Matching network system for mobile devices

ABSTRACT

A matching network system including communication devices, servers and software which enables the provisioning of services and execution of transactions based on a plurality of private and public personality profiles and behavior models of the users, of the communication devices, of the products/services and of the servers; in combination with the software resident at the communication device level and or the local/network server level. Matching and searching processes based on a plurality of personality profiles wherein the information, communication and transactions are enabled to be matched with the user, the communication device and or the servers. The communication device is a stationary device or a mobile device, such as a portable computing device, wireless telephone, cellular telephone, personal digital assistant, or a multifunction communication, computing and control device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/644,276 filed Aug. 20, 2003 which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.application Ser. No. 10/244,615, filed Sep. 16, 2002, now abandoned,which is continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/642,872, filedAug. 21, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,480,587, issued Nov. 12, 2002, whichis a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/281,739, filed Jun. 4,1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,169,789, issued Jan. 2, 2001, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/764,903 filed Dec.16, 1996, now abandoned; the contents of the above referencedapplications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the prior art the user of a stationary or mobile device is forced tosearch the Internet in a laborious, time consuming and inefficientmanner to find individuals or groups of individuals that meet the user'spre-set or dynamically changing criteria for one or more types ofsocial, professional or other interactions. Similarly, the user faces adaunting task in efficiently searching for web sites, relevant webcontent and specific information. The simple reason for this limitationis that the prior processes and the prior art is quite simply searchoriented rather than match oriented. There is a distinct difference inthe processes related to searching and the processes related tomatching. The search process, of the prior art, is essentially useragnostic and delivers the same results to one or more users based on aspecific query. The search process of the prior art is driven by themere presence of key words within a web page and ranking based on howoften the web page has been indexed by other web sites and accessed. Thesearch process does not apply a personality profile paradigm to the useror the data. Additionally the user does not wish to reveal the personaldetails to the Website or the Search Site nor are these web sites andsearch sites empowered by various current and anticipated laws which aredesigned to protect the privacy of the user and limit the potential foridentity theft. Another limitation of the search process is that it isunidirectional and not bi-directional with the search engine having atbest limited information about the user. The present invention enablesthe application of personality profiles, while protecting the privacy ofthe user, by enabling the user to be in complete control.

The present invention discloses and teaches a novel Matching Networksystem and associated search and match processes that enhance usercontrol, enabling the user to maintain one or more private and publicpersonality profiles. The personality profiles can be held aspersonality states, such personality states being static, dynamic orfixed for a finite period of time. These personality profiles/statesdefine the user's criteria for one or more types of social, professionalor commerce transactions. The match process is bi-directional at aminimum or omni directional at the outside. The matching of thepersonality profiles of two or more parties to the transaction isexecuted utilizing the user defined rules and a Rules Processor thatresides within the Match Engine. The ability to maintain multiplepersonality profiles/states is equally applicable to individuals, websites, web pages, products and or services enabling micro and macromatching based on one or more rules. This novel feature enables theindividuals and web sites to have behavioral patterns and is termed inthis invention as the Behavioral Web or the Behavioral Internet.

In addition, the prior art does not allow a user to maintain anonymityat one or more stages of various transactions. There is a need tomaintain anonymity and disclose true identity and or intent at theappropriate time based on negotiation and the progress of varioustransactions. A user also desires to maintain a plurality of public andprivate personality states based on the type of social, professional orcommercial transactions. In the system level scheme described herein theindividual users, the individual web sites, the individual web pages orsubsets of a web page are enabled to have multiple private and or publicpersonality states that cause the web to behave in a more responsivemanner that better matches the user's needs. A network system for mobilematching is disclosed that enables efficient matching of one or more ofthe user's requests, enabling the user to maintain multiple public andprivate personality states, enabling the user to maintain anonymity asdesired for the entire transaction or part of a transaction, for aspecified duration or till a specified condition is fulfilled. Thesystem enables the user a means to negotiate a relationship and or atransaction using an Intelligent Keyboard and or a like function MobileDevice, a local and or network server; and or an Escrow Server locatedin an inside or outside wired or wireless communication line path.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel scheme bywhich the limitations of the current World Wide Web, the Internet andSearch Engines are overcome to enable personalized Web and Internetexperience matching the individual's personality profiles. The prior artSearch Engine technology simply catalogs and ranks the web sites and orweb content based on rule and algorithms that are not specific to theindividual user. In the prior art when a user A desires to search for aspecific web site or web content and another user B similarly performs asearch, the results delivered by the search engine to all the users areidentical, even though the personality, location and intendedapplications of user A and user B are quite different.

It is an object of the present invention to enable a single user tomaintain a plurality of personality profiles or personality states toenable the user to efficiently traverse the Internet and or the Intranetto obtain the desired information that matches the user's needs. Theprior art has limited capability to gather and maintain the userinformation such as the name, address and credit card information tofacilitate certain transactions with ease. However, the prior art methoddoes not provide an insight into the personality profiles, states andbehavior of the individual user or the needs of the user at any giventime. The prior art method does not provide a match to the user's needswithout the user having to laboriously shift and select information froma long list of relevant and irrelevant data that is simply presented tohim as a result of a search process.

It is an object of the present invention to enable the informationprovider or service provider that maintains a website, web page orsubset of a web page to maintain a plurality of personality profiles orpersonality states for each of the web sites, web pages and sub sets ofa web page. In the prior art any web site, web page or subset of a webpage has the same content when viewed by more than one individual and orthe same functionality for all of the users. In the prior art, the website content nor the functionality is specifically matched to theindividual user.

It is an object of the current invention to enable a web site havingitself a plurality of personality profiles and states to recognize andrespond appropriately to each individual user that also has a pluralityof personality profiles in order to match the user's request forinformation or services. In the prior art, there is no ability for a website or an individual user to maintain a plurality of personalities andfor efficient recognition and matching.

It is an object of the current invention to enable mathematical andbehavioral modeling of one or more users as individuals, in groups or inthe aggregate in order to establish one or more personality states forthe web site, web page and or sub set of a web page. In the prior artweb sites do not have multiple personalities nor do they modelthemselves or model their users with a user personality profile.

It is an object of the current invention to enable the implementationand the structuring of a web site, web page or sub set of a web page asa finite state machine to form the Behavioral Web. The novel method ofstructuring a web site as a finite state machine causes the web site tobehave in a manner that is specific to each user and respondappropriately to the stimuli generated by each individual user. Thisnovel method enables personalized content to be viewed and tailors thefunctionality of the web site to a specific user. In the prior art, websites do not maintain the state for the web pages on the web site,depending on the actions on a specific page. The novel finite statemachine design as disclosed herein maintains the state for all of theweb pages per individual user since stimuli on one page may cause astate change on some other page. This novel implementation is based uponpersonality profiles, user modeling, user defined criteria, state-fuluser profiles, and computer heuristics.

It is an object of the present invention to enable a web site having aplurality of personalities to recognize and respond to the specificpersonality of a user and transform the web site and the functionalityin a manner that is specific for that user. This novel approach enablesa single web site to be responsive to multiple users and theirpersonality profiles to enable the provider to efficiently delivermatched content and matched services to a plurality of the user's on theInternet and or the Intranet. The current invention enables the web siteto behave in a personalized manner for each individual user.

It is an object of the present invention to define a match engine whichenables behavioral modeling and matching of Users and Providers on theInternet. The Match Engine is of utility to the World Wide Webapplication as well as other applications, where user modeling and userbehavior are factors. The user is in this instance defined as either ahuman or a computer, since the modeling is also applicable for computerto computer interactions and negotiation. The Match Engine also enablesuser's to intelligently sift through the vast amount of behavioralcontent to derive information that matches the user's needs. Thisoperation of intelligently sifting through behavioral content andzeroing in on relevant information is defined as matching. Matching is asuper-set of searching and enables customized access to information.

It is an object of the current invention to utilize the Match Engine formatching by enabling the input and output data sets to be characterizedand modeled according to personality profiles, user defined criteria,state-ful profiles of the user, and computer based heuristics. Thematching process becomes a search process if the user is not modeled andor the data set itself does not behave. Behavior modeling of one or moreparties to the transaction, and delivering the relevant data from theentire data set to one or more parties defines a matching process.

It is an object of the current invention to utilize the Match Engine formatching, enabling the user to have a richer web experience as well as amore granular, targeted access to information. In the prior art ofsearching the data set is not personified and modeled. In contrast, inmatching, behavioral models of entire web sites or inanimate objects aredeveloped. One or more attributes of the object are defined aspersonalities allowing these inanimate objects to be modeled and matchedwith real live human beings or computers depending on the application.

It is an object of the present invention to make the web experience ofthe user simpler and richer, replacing and or augmenting the searchprocess by a match process utilizing the Match Engine. The World WideWeb is an interconnected graph in which the nodes are web pages andlinks serve as the edges between these nodes. In the current state ofthe art, searching engines scour the web and employ their own algorithmto catalog the web. Some search engines suggest that the more often aweb page is linked by other web pages the greater its relevance. Usersenter their query/criteria into search engines and using the criteriaand its own algorithms the search engine produces a series of web pagesthat it determines are relevant to the user. Searching is by definitionis a user intensive process. The user must sift through the resultsdisplayed by the search engine. Filters may be applied to the searchcriteria by specifying Boolean logic to tie the criteria together. Theweb pages that are searched are not customized and do not behave in apersonalized manner. Therefore, the search engine indexes relativelystatic data while the web is inherently capable of providing a dynamicexperience with the emerging technologies which enable connectivity allthe time.

It is an object of the current invention to enable multiple userprofiles in the matching operation. The prior art search enginetechnology does not use personality models to understand the user. Priorart searching techniques do not incorporate a user's past queries topredict future needs. However, even if it did that, it still does notdevelop a user personality profile or a more global user model. Since nouser profile exists in traditional searching, the search engine does notperform keyword look-ups based upon a user profile. Further, multipleprofiles are not used in the searching operation.

It is an object of the current invention to enable efficient traversingof the behavioral web with the Matching Network system infrastructure,wherein a user assumes a persona via one or more personality profiles.The personality profiles of the user can be stored at the client on theuser's browser. Alternatively, the persona can be assumed at thespecific web site using a selected personality profile. The usermodeling information is also aggregated from the client, server, and orthird parties. Upon assuming this persona that is transmitted to websites, web sites may customize their content according to the persona.Web sites are therefore capable of leveraging the behavioral web topresent a different face to the various users that visit their site.Additionally, the web sites behave differently depending on the actionsof the user and changes to his persona. The Match Engine's matchingprogram enables users to derive relevant information from thisbehavioral web.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Matchbot assumes the userspecified persona to scour the web looking for relevant matching websites and content. The Matchbot is defined as a robot that is configuredfor information acquirement to enable searching and matching based onpersonality profiles of the user. The Matchbot working in conjunctionwith the Match Engine enable much more customized and relevantinformation to be acquired by the user. The User has the option ofassuming a variety of personas.

In another object of the present invention, Web sites, vendors andservice providers are enabled to continuously or at set intervals launchMatchbots that embody specific personalities and objectives of theprovider to reach and match with the Matchbots of the users.

In an embodiment of the present invention, Matchbots that assume theuser specified personality profile scour the web continuously or for aspecified time. Additionally the Matchbots have the capability to betime released and or have a limit condition in which the matchingoperation should take place. The Matchbots are programmable for one ormore personalities and one or more specific tasks.

In another embodiment of the present invention the Match Engine isprogrammable by the user to define the criteria that constitutes amatch. That is the user can set one or more criteria for matching andassign weights to each criterion. The Matchbot scours the web based onthese defined criteria and determine the relevancy of the information atthe Matchbot level and or in conjunction with the Match Engine todetermine if a match has occurred.

In another object of the present invention through the use of targetedMatchbots, marketing and electronic commerce by the vendor is enabled,without the vendor having to resort to spamming of all users,unsolicited e-mail, pop advertisements and other intrusive behavior. TheMatchbot released by the Vendor is recognized by the user's web site orthe user's Matchbot based on the rules that the user has established forone or more of his personalities. Additionally, the Matchbot concept forthe Internet ensures that nothing that is unsolicited is delivered to auser's mobile device or a stationary device since all information thatis delivered is via the user's own Matchbot, said user Matchbot enabledto behave according to the user defined rules. The Matchbot concept andsystem level scheme ensures that nothing is pushed on to the user, itbased on a Match and Pull concept rather than the prior art standard ofunmatched and unwanted Push concept.

In another embodiment of the present invention the Match Engine enablesthe discovery of user profiles/wireless devices/Intelligent Appliancesto enable appropriate service offering by the wireless service provider.

In another embodiment of the present invention the Match Engine enablesthe discovery and use of wired or wireless applications that are bestsuited and matched to the user's personality profile.

In another embodiment, the Match Engine enables adaptable wirelessnetworking applications for mobile devices and intelligent appliancesbased on personality profiles.

In another embodiment of the present invention the Match Engine enablesthe discovery and use of wired or wireless applications that are bestsuited and matched to the user on one or more communication channels.

In another embodiment of the present invention the Match Engine enablesthe matching of one or more individuals for the purposes of social andprofessional interaction.

In another embodiment of the present invention the Match Engine enablesthe individual user to maintain a plurality of public and privatepersonalities. The Match Engine enables the appropriate matching of theuser based on one or more personalities depending on the privacy needsand other criteria.

In another embodiment of the present invention the Match Engine enablesthe individual user to maintain a plurality of public and privatepersonalities and negotiate social, professional or commercialrelationships and execute transactions based on a selected personalityprofile and the desired level of privacy and security.

In another embodiment of the present invention, multiple Match Engineswith varying degrees of capabilities and personalization are enabled toexist at the communication device level, the local server level, thenetwork sever level and on the Internet. This system configurationprovides matching capabilities across the entire network topology.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the Match Engine andSearch Engine are enabled to co-exist at the mobile device level, at thelocal server level and or on the network to perform matching andsearching in a stand alone manner and or in conjunction with each other.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the match process isapplied to the numerous results of a search provided by a Search Engine,in order to refine and derive a match that meets the user profile.

It is an object of the present invention to mask the email identity ofthe user by utilizing an Escrow Server for send and receive e-mailfunctionality and other transactions. The Escrow Server is enabled to bepart of the Match Engine and or be external to the Match Engine on alocal loop or network loop.

An object of the present invention is to enable matching by acquiringthe user's match criteria through a text based entry and associatedBoolean logic. This in addition is coupled with a series of questionsand answers provided by the user initially and or subsequently to narrowthe match criteria. These questions which relevant to the user aregenerated based upon prior history, similar queries by other users,contextual awareness and computer defined heuristics.

An object of the present invention is to model the user to performefficient matching. The user creates a personality profile and ormultiple personality profiles some of which are private and some arepublic.

An object of the present invention is to enable a model of the data setfor efficient matching. Even if the data set is inanimate, it isprofiled with a personality test consisting of various attributes of theinanimate entity so that it demonstrates various behaviors.

An object of the present invention is to enable matching via the use ofalgorithms that catalog the web. These algorithms determine therelevance of a web page by the number of links that point to that webpage. In addition these algorithms depend on meta data to determinerelevance.

An object of the present invention is to continuously refine the modelsof the users based on computer defined heuristics such as Baysien priorhistory and refine the relevance rankings of web pages based on userfeedback. The user feedback is actively determined through feedbacktests taken by the user and passively determined through assessing thetype of web pages, how many web pages, and how often web page have beenselected by the user.

By building more accurate models of users, the Matching Engine leveragesthe fact that similar types of users desire similar types of webresults.

An object of the present invention is to enable dynamic matching.Matching is not static as is the case currently with searching. A matchis capable of being queried instantaneously and or polled at a timefrequency defined by the user.

An object of the present invention is to enable dynamic searching. Thesearch process via a Search Engine is capable of being queriedinstantaneously and or polled at a time frequency defined by the user.Currently this capability does not exist except for instantaneoussearching.

An object of the present invention is to enable context based andmobility based matching.

An object of the present invention is to enable finite state machinelogic to be used to model the behavior of individuals, groups, websites, products, services and inanimate objects.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from the following detailed description when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

The accompanying drawings, being incorporated in and forming a part ofthis specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and,together with the description, serve to explain the principles of thepresent invention:

FIG. 1: shows the network topology of the prior art showing the meansfor searching for information by one or more users utilizing theInternet and one or more communication devices.

FIG. 2: shows the Matching Network System of the present inventionshowing a comprehensive network topology that comprises of Users,Communication Devices and one or more Servers on the Intranet or theInternet that are connected by wired or wireless means; wherein theusers have multiple private and public personalities characterized bythe User Behavior Model; the websites have multiple personalitiescharacterized by the Website Behavior Model; and wherein the Match Siteutilizes a Match Engine to match the request of the user forinformation, products and services provided by one or more websites; andfurther enables users and groups of users to be matched with each other.

FIG. 3: shows the user with multiple private and public personalityprofiles using wired or wireless communication devices to connect to thewebsites and servers on the Intranet and or the Internet for search,match and escrow services.

FIG. 4: shows the added security feature wherein the personality profileconsists of multiple components that are maintained in one morelocations on the matching network including the communication devicelevel or the server level for compilation of the personality profileupon user request.

FIG. 5: shows the means for creating private and public personalityprofiles by the user. The user is enabled to create a Question Log and acorresponding Answer Log for self characterization by means of thePersonality Profile Generator, ascribing weights to various questionsand answers. Additionally the question and answer logs and data basesare of utility to characterize the personality profiles of other users.The user is also enabled to develop the User Behavioral Model based onprior history and predictive algorithms.

FIG. 6: shows the means for the determination of the personality profileof one user A by the other user B; and the personality of user B by theother user A. Additionally, the behavior model and predictive actions ofother users may be determined. The same concept is extendable tomultiple users to enable the matching of one or more users. Theillustration shows a common Match Engine for user A and user B and meansfor direct communication between User A and User B.

FIG. 7: shows the means for the determination of the personality profileof a user by one or more other users by direct communication between theusers. The Match Engine capability is built in to each communicationdevice for direct matching. Additionally the match process and otherfunctions are augmented by the Match Server and other servers that areon the Intranet or the Internet. The behavior model of other users mayin turn be modeled by a user to determine and predict actions of otherusers.

FIG. 8: shows the scheme for individual users to maintain a plurality ofprivate and public personalities and the means for joining one or moreprivate and public groups. The groups are enabled to maintain aplurality of group personality profiles. The invitation to join a groupand other management functions between the individual and the groups aremanaged by direct interaction and or by one or more servers located onthe Intranet or the Internet.

FIG. 9: shows the Personal Matching Network and the Group matchingNetwork embodiments. The means for interaction, matching and managementof Personal Matching Networks and Group Matching Networks isillustrated.

FIG. 10: shows the system scheme wherein the communication device ofUser A and User B to comprise of one or more channels of Inputs andOutputs for communication. The Multi Channel Multiplexing Transmitterand Receiver, MMTR, is used to enable the communication on one or morechannels of input and output. Alternately other methods may be used tocontrol the I/O channels. The communication device is configured tocomprise of Device ID, Device Profiles, Device Profile Selector, MMTR,the Match Engine, User ID, the User Profile Selector. The communicationdevice connects via wired or wireless means to the Local Server on theIntranet, and the Matching Server and the other servers located on theInternet.

FIG. 11: shows the means for the User, the Website, the Web pages, theMatchbot, and Products and Services to be defined by the personalityprofile and the associated TAG for easy recognition on the Intranet orthe Internet. Additionally the figure shows the ability to hold one ormore personality states.

FIG. 12: shows the configuration of the Match Engine consisting of theinput/output, I/O Manager Block, the Scheduler Block, Rules ProcessorBlock, Lookup Tables Block, Lookup Processor Block, Processor Blockcomprising one or more general purpose and special processors, DatabaseBlock comprising one or more databases, Storage Block and the BehaviorModel Block. The figure is for illustrative purposes and is not to beconstrued as limiting in scope.

FIG. 13: shows the consumer to consumer matching, the consumer-to vendormatching, the vendor to supplier matching and the supplier to themanufacturer matching.

FIG. 14: shows the feature wherein the products/services arecharacterized by personality profile type attributes thus enabling theconsumer to configure and personalize products.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of theinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with thepreferred embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intendedto limit the invention to those embodiments. On the contrary, theinvention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications andequivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

The present invention provides means for a User to readily assume aplurality of public and private personalities for navigating theIntranet or the Internet. The present invention in addition enables theWeb Site to assume a plurality of personalities for serving the uniqueneeds of different users. The present invention also discloses the meansfor describing any product or service with a plurality of personalitytype attributes. The present invention discloses novel methods formaintaining either anonymity or a public presence based on Userpreferences. In addition, the present invention teaches the method fornegotiating different types of transactions through the use of theEscrow Server.

The present invention additionally provides the means for the user todevelop, the User Behavioral Model, based on the personality profiles ofthe user and prior history of the user to predict future behavior of theuser. Similarly, the present invention enables modeling of other usersbased on their personality profile and past interactions. The presentinvention also provides the means for the website to develop, theWebsite Behavioral Model, based on the personality profiles of thewebsite and prior history of the website to predict future behavior ofthe website as it serves the requests of varied users. The presentinvention enables private and public groups with the groups beingcharacterized by one or more private and public personalities and theGroup Behavioral Model.

The present invention also discloses a novel method for enabling thematching of the User with various types of information, services andproducts desired by the user, through match based solutions that areuser specific, personality specific and transaction specific. The MatchEngine based techniques disclosed in the present invention overcome thelimitations of the Search Engine based techniques. The present inventiondiscloses means for efficiently matching the User by utilizingbehavioral models and algorithms at the User node, the Web Site node orthe full spectrum of the Internet. In addition, the present inventionenables the user to employ exclusively either, the Match techniques, theSearch techniques and or a combination of Search and Match techniquesbased on the user discretion.

FIG. 1: is a description of the prior art, illustrating a User A, 101and User B 102, utilizing one of many enabling Communication Devices110, such as the Intelligent keyboard 111, Cellular Telephone 112,Personal Digital Assistant 113, Mobile Device 114, and Stationary Device115. The devices having an Interface 120 that consists of a Browser 121,Display 122 to facilitate navigation of the Internet. The Interface alsoconsists of means for Query Input 123 and means for Query Output 124.The communication device connects to the Internet 140 via wired orwireless communication path, CP, 130. The User is enabled to search forinformation from Search Site 141 located on the Internet and executetransactions with one or more Web Sites 142 located on the Internet. Theprior art has a number of limitations that are herein illustrated withexamples to clearly contrast the prior art with the novel features ofthe present invention that serve to overcome these limitations andprovide enhanced utility for the user.

In the prior art, the User A, 101 has no specific Internet personalityand by default has a generic persona that is essentially the same asmillions of other users, including User B, 102. After being connected tothe Internet 140, by wired or wireless means 130, the user logs onto aSearch Site 141 located on the Internet. Utilizing the Interface 120,the Browser 121, the user performs a Query Input 123 in Display window122 seeking specific information. The Search Site internally employs asearch engine that operates via algorithms that are search enginespecific rather than user specific to deliver Query Output 124 whichconsists of a number of results R1 through Rn. In the prior art thebehavioral modeling of users, groups and websites is not possible asthere is no means for characterizing these entities.

Example 1.1

With the amount of data available on the Internet growing exponentially,the user is faced with a daunting task that may be compared to theproverbial process of looking for a needle in a haystack.

Let us assume that a number of users are searching the Internet forinformation on needles; and in this instance user A is a surgeon anduser B is a cobbler. The user A and user B and other users input“Needle” in the query input window and perform a search using a reputedsearch site of the prior art and its search engine technology. Theresulting query output consists of a number of results:

R1: Space Needle R2: NordicNeedle.com

R3: Needle Necessities (a whole sale thread manufacturer)R4: Needle Doctor (needles for phonographs)

And so on. Of the eight results presented by the search engine mostrelate to sewing applications. Inputting the word “needles” alsodelivers similar results. Consequently

1. These results have no contextual relationship to the user. All usersinputting an identical query get the identical answer as query outputirrespective of their background and or even geographical location.

2. Another limitation is that the ranking/order in which the results arepresented is also identical for all users. However, each user hasimplicitly a different interpretation of the word “needle” which may notbe explicitly expressed by the user. A physician who treats people and aveterinarian who treats animals are looking for different types ofneedles and there is no distinction made by the current search enginetechnology.

3. The results delivered are interspersed with relevant and irrelevantinformation forcing the user to manually determine the relevancy of thequery output. Further, when the results are presented after a search inthe prior art, there is a significant amount of the proverbial hay stillleft around the information. In this illustration the user A, a surgeonand user B, a cobbler did not get any relevant data on the needles theyseek. In addition the four results that were presented are informationabout four needles that were not in any way relevant to user A and userB. There was no specific and single result that was highly relevant tothe user.

The prior art thus suffers from a number of limitations. The user doesnot have the ability to maintain a plurality of public and privatepersonality profiles nor does the user have the ability to hold andmaintain different personality states. The Web Site and the individualweb pages comprising the web site do not have the ability to havedifferent personality profiles/states. The user does not have theability to ascribe weights to various Input and Output query factors forpersonal relevancy. The user also does not have the ability to model oneor more of the user personalities and maintain individual control. Theweb site behavior is the same for all users while the needs of the usersare quite different. These prior art limitations significantly hinderthe user from deriving increased utility of the Internet, which is fastbecoming the medium of first choice. The present invention is designedto overcome the limitations of the prior art and significantly changethe paradigm for navigating the web seeking information and conductingtransactions.

FIG. 2: shows an embodiment of the present invention which illustrates acomprehensive topology of the Intranet or the Internet embodying thepresent invention wherein the User, A 201 and User B 202 maintain aplurality of private and public personalities, the User A and User B arecharacterized by their Behavior Models; the users having the ability tocommunicate by means of different types of Communication Devices, CD215, such as Intelligent Keyboards 210, Cellular Telephones 211,Personal Digital Assistants 212, Mobile Devices 213, Stationary Devices214 and other devices: said communication devices having an Interface220 that may consist of a Browser/Display 221 to facilitate easynavigation of the network or alternately the communication devices mayemploy means other than a standard browser, such as voice forinput/output and navigation. The communication devices connect to eachother and or the network via wired or wireless communication path CP230. The User is enabled to connect to the Intranet or the Internet andcommunicate with, seek information from and execute transactions withone or more Web Sites 247, Search Sites 241, Match Sites 242, LocalServers 243, Network Servers 244, Escrow Servers 245, Search plus Matchsites 246 and Websites X 248 that has website/webpage personalityprofiles/states. The following examples illustrate the variousembodiments of the present invention. Other figures that are part of thepresent invention and disclosure serve to illustrate the variousembodiments.

Example 2.1

The present invention enables the user to maintain a plurality ofprivate personality profiles PR1 through PRn and a plurality of publicpersonality profiles PU1 through PUn. The personality profile is ofgreat utility in maintaining different persona on the Internet, as theInternet or the World Wide Web has become the medium of choice forcommunication between users about who very little is known. There istherefore a need for selectively revealing the user's identity forspecific transactions including the very basic action of informationgathering. Additionally there is a need to mask the identity oralternately use a different personality profile for other interactions.User A 201 for illustration is a male physician and User B 202 is afemale software engineer. The Behavior Model is used to characterize andmodel the individual user by means of the personality profiles and theactual history of the user in various prior interactions/transactions.The physician maintains a personality for interacting with professionalcolleagues, a different personality profile that is seeking a romanticpartner, and yet another personality profile for navigating theInternet. The female software engineer maintains a personality profilefor surfing the web seeking technical information of a professionalnature, a different personality profile for finding a dating partner,and yet another personality for shopping purposes. The Matching Networksystem of the present invention enables generation of variouspersonality profiles by each user and behavior modeling of the user withthe control being maintained by the user. The user has the ability touse the communication device CD 215 to generate and maintain thepersonality profiles and or use one or more servers on the Intranet,Local Server 243 or the Internet Network Server 244. In the prior artthis capability does not exist.

Example 2.2

The present invention enables the Website X 248 and different web pageswithin the website to be characterized by one or more personalityprofiles and the ability to hold state for a specific user. The WebsiteX is able to recognize that User A 201 and User B 202 have distinctlydifferent personalities and deliver web pages and website functionalitythat is matched to the needs of each user. As an example User A whenvisiting the website X is presented with the website personality 1 andUser b is presented with a different website personality 2. The websiteadditionally holds a different state for User A and User B deliveringdifferent functionality for each user. Prior art does not enable thisfeature which is of great utility and instead only provides a webexperience that is identical for each and every user. In addition thepresent invention defines the Matching Network system that enables theuser to leverage the full capabilities of the Intranet Local server 243and one or more servers located on the Internet.

Example 2.3

The present invention defines the ability to utilize match basedtechniques that are of far greater utility than the prior art of searchbased techniques. The ability to characterize the Users, Websites,Products and Services by the personality profiles and behavior modelsenables matching of the User with the desired information, product orservice in a more efficient manner. To illustrate, user B, the femalesoftware engineer prefer a specific brand and shade of lipstick. Thepersonality profile and the behavior model of the user are maintained onthe communication device CD 215 and or the Local server 243 with theability to recognize the preferences of the User B 202 and update priorhistory data and forecast most likely future behavior of the user. Theuser B logs on to the Internet and types the word in the browser orspeaks the word “lipstick”. The results displayed are now specific tothe particular brand and shade of lipstick desired by user B. In theprior art the results would be extensive and not readily of relevance.The User B desiring to purchase the lipstick is matched with theWebsite/web pages of the vendor that offers the particular brand andshade of lipstick.

Matching requires the characterization of the User and the Provider andis best achieved when the data set at both ends is well characterizedand modeled. The prior art of searching does not rely oncharacterization of the User or the Provider and consequently the usermust apply personal analysis without the aid of computers and thusderives limited utility. As the Web use becomes more pervasive, theutility is enhanced by match based processes of the present invention.

Example 2.4

The present invention in addition to being applicable for matching isalso applicable to search based processes. Searching is significantlyimproved when coupled with the personality profiles of the user and thebehavior model of the user. The personality profiles and behavior modelsare applicable for search based techniques even if the other users andwebsites are not characterized. The personality profiles and behaviormodels of user B 202 may be maintained at the communication device levelor at the local server level 243 under the full control of the user.This scheme enables the user to launch a search that is very specificand analyze the search results utilizing the processing power of thecommunication device CD 215 and or the processing power of the localserver 243 and network server 244. In this scenario the search resultsfinally delivered to the user are more relevant and more specific. Theprior art of user agnostic search based techniques that are centralizedat the Search Site do not provide the means for determining personalrelevancy in a private and secure manner.

The present invention enables the use of a combination of search andmatch based techniques for delivering great utility to the user usingthe capabilities of the communication device by itself and or theIntranet/Internet servers. The search based and match based techniquesare used in combination and or iteratively and in the sequence desiredby the user to deliver the utility desired by the user. The searchprocess is under the control of the user and deployed by the user at oneor more locations on the Intranet or the Internet using search methodsand search algorithms that are personalized. In the prior art the searchservices are provided in one centralized location at the Search Siteprovider, said provider utilizing search techniques that are not userspecific.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a Matching Network system of the presentinvention showing a User 300 maintaining a plurality of privatepersonalities, 301 represented by PR1 through PRn and a plurality ofpublic personalities, 302 represented by PU1 through PUn. The user isenabled to maintain private and public personalities in various databases/look up tables. These databases/lookup tables reside at differentnodes in the network, on devices and on servers that are part of theMatching Network system. The matching network system consists ofcommunication devices CD, such as the Intelligent keyboard, IK, thecellular telephone CT, personal digital assistant PDA, mobile device MDand stationary device SD; local server LS 336, network server NS 335,escrow server ES 334, web site WS 333, search site SS 332 and match siteMS 331. The different nodes, devices, web sites, search sites andservers are connected by wired or wireless path CP 320 for communicationof information that consists of audio, video, images, graphics and data.The user maintains one or more personalities or parts of a personalityon different communication devices, web sites, search sites, match sitesand servers based on the security and permission levels set by the userand the speed/ease of use desired by the user.

FIG. 3 also illustrates the implementation of a plurality of private andpublic personality profiles for navigation, seeking information,searching, matching, negotiating and executing transactions with varyinglevels of security while limiting private or public exposure. User 300maintains a plurality of personalities for different types ofinteractions over the World Wide Web, the Internet, the Intranet or thelocal network. These personalities are described in software andmaintained in one or more databases/lookup tables and or capable ofbeing hard coded into the communication device itself. The followingexamples illustrate various unique implementation schemes.

Example 3.1

For illustrative purposes the user 300 maintains the following privateand public personalities:

Private Personalities Public Personalities PR1 Husband PU1 Citizen PR2Shopper PU2 Shopper PR3 Executive PU3 Rotarian PR4 Auction Bidder PU4Web Fan

1. The user 300 wishes to maintain a high degree of personal control inhow and where the multiple private and public personality profiles aremaintained. For illustration, the private personality profiles PR1 ismaintained on the communication device 310. The private personalityprofiles PR2 and PR3 are maintained on a local server 336 and theprofile PR4 is maintained at the escrow server 334.

2. The user 300 maintains the public personality profiles PU1, PU3 andPU4 on the communication device level 310, the local server level 336,and the network server level 335. The public profile PU2 is maintainedat the favorite shopping web site level.

3. The personality profile is generally described in software usingExtensible Markup Language, XML language or other languages for easy andefficient interaction with one or more databases and lookup tables.

4. The user 300 selects the private personality profile PR1 tocommunicate with the family or spouse. The communication is of apersonal nature and the user does not wish to have this private profileresident on the local network or the Internet. The communication device310 is further enabled with software and hardware security features.

5. The user 300 selects the private personality profile PR2 to conductshopping transactions of a personal nature without disclosing completeinformation to the vendor or the web site except to enable payment. Thislimits the ability of the vendor to gather specific information aboutthe user and limits the possibility of the misuse of private informationand identity theft. Utilizing the communication device 310, the userconnects with the local server 336 to maintain a private personalityprofile, modify the profile, temporarily download a personality profileand or select and use a specific personality profile for navigation ofthe web and or in transactions.

6. The user 300 utilizing the communication device 310 selects thepersonality profile PR3 resident on a local server 336 to communicatewith other executives and business associates.

7. The user 300 wishes to participate in an auction and bid on aproduct, property or service without disclosing the true identity of theuser to the auctioneer or other bidders. In this implementation theescrow server 334, acting as a trusted server acceptable to all parties,maintains the private personality profile PR4 and enables the partial orfull range of the transaction with web site 333 without disclosing thetrue identity of the user before, during and or after the auction. Inanother implementation the user 300 navigates the Internet looking forinformation, products and services and generally conducts on lineresearch without disclosing the true identity using search site 332 andescrow server 334, communication device 310 and wired or wirelesscommunication means 320.

8. The user 300 having one or more public personalities, communicatesvia the regular public Internet access and or a combination of themethods illustrated in item 1 through 7 of this example 3.1 wherein thelocal server, network server and or the escrow server is utilized.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a Matching Network system of the presentinvention illustrating the means for establishing the private and orpublic personality profile comprising of one or more personality profilecomponents, PPC1 through PPCn, that when aggregated/compiled togetherform the full and complete personality profile. The different componentsforming the personality profile are maintained at one or more locationson the matching network in different databases 431, 441 and 451 andlookup tables 432, 442 and 452, resident on the communication device andor the servers. The aggregation or compilation of the desiredpersonality profile is dynamically executed at the discretion of theUser 400, at the Communication Device 410 and or the Network server 434,Escrow Server 435, and Local Server 436 to facilitate specifictransactions.

The user has the ability to define how the aggregation/compilation ofthe full personality profile takes place, the purpose of the aggregatedpersonality profile, the time duration of its existence and otherfeatures. Each personality profile component is encrypted as is theaggregated full personality profile for additional security andavoidance of profiling/snooping by third parties, identity theft and orfraudulent use. Additionally, the user 400 is enabled to select one ormore complex algorithms for the aggregation or compilation of the fullpersonality profile from the various components that the profilecomprises of. The communication across the matching network is by wiredor wireless means, 420. In this instance the aggregation of thepersonality profile components is shown at the user end on thecommunication device.

FIG. 5: A novel embodiment of the Matching Network system is that thesystem consists of different users having a plurality of private andpublic personality profiles that are defined by the users themselvesrather than a third party such as a vendor or, a Website. FIG. 5illustrates the process for interactively self developing, maintainingand utilizing the public and private personality profiles by the userutilizing any type of wired or wireless communication device and or alocal or network server.

The Question Log 500 consists of the Question Creator 501, the StandardQuestion Table 502, the Custom Question Table 503 and the Question DataBase 504. The Answer Log 510 consists of the Question and Answer Table511 and the Answer Data Base 512. The Personality Profile Generator 520consists of Rules Processor 521, Public Personality Table 522, PrivatePersonality Table 523, Scoring Processor 524, Personality Profile DataBase 525, Personality profile Lookup Tables 526 and Behavior Model 527.

The user selects one or more questions from the Standard Question Table502 and provides answers to these questions which are written to theAnswer Log. The user is also enabled to create custom questions viaCustom Question Table 503 that are user specific and similarly store theanswers in the Answer Log 510. The questions and answers are organizedin different categories for easy selection to assist in the personalityprofile definition and subsequent behavioral model development. The usernow has a Question Data Base, 504 and a corresponding Answer Data Base,512, that is then used in generating the user's specific public orprivate personality profiles via the Personality Profile Generator 520.

The Personality Profile Generator 520 comprises of a table for aspecific private personality profile 523 and for a specific publicpersonality profile 522, wherein the questions, answers and the weightsascribed by the user to these question-answer pairs is maintained. TheScoring Processor 524 enables the means for calculating the compositeweighting of various questions and answers. The resulting private andpublic personality profiles are maintained in database 525 and 526respectively. The user is able to set up different rules for differentpersonality profiles and apply these rules via the Rules Processor 521.Additionally the Behavior Model enables the user's prior history anddecision processes to be modeled for future predictive behavior andserves as a tool that assists the user.

In the prior art the users do not have the ability to generate their ownmultiple private and public personality profiles and also behaviorallymodel their own personality. In the prior art the user does not have themeans for deploying the personality profiles at the communication devicelevel or the server level and or the means for personally managing thepersonality profiles across a network. The present invention of theMatching Network system enables secure self-development and selfdeployment of multiple personality profiles conforming to the rulesdefined by the user.

To generate a private personality profile the user selects questions ofrelevance, such as Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 from one or more categories andascribes weights to the question and answer pair, which is stored in thePrivate Personality Table 523. The questions selected may be from theStandard Question Table 502 are from the Custom Question Table 503. TheQuestion Creator, 501 enables the custom questions to be created by theuser. The Scoring Processor, 524 computes the score based on theweighting for each question-answer pair and the total questions used.The resulting personality is checked for conformance to the user definedrules via the Rules Processor 520. The user approved personalityprofiles are stored in the personality profile data base, 525 and isalso input in abbreviated form into the look up table, 526 for speedyreference and efficient execution. Similarly the user is enabled togenerate public personality profiles. Users are enabled to have multipleprivate and public personalities which are of great utility in matchingpeople or matching providers with individuals on the web. Thepersonality profiles are applicable to the process of searching also.

Example 5.1

This example illustrates in detail the novel process of developing andmaintaining private and public personality profiles by creatingquestions that are relevant in defining the user. The User is a collegestudent in real life and wishes to maintain a persona for socialinteractions such as finding a life partner and another for professionalinteractions such as finding a job. In this example the questions areselected by the user from the standard data base or created by the userutilizing the Question Creator 501:

Q1. Which do you prefer?

Beer Scotch Neither Answer: Beer

Q2. How often do you party?

Everyday Fridays

All week end

Answer: Everyday

Q3. What is the color of your hair?

Black Brown White Blond Answer: Black

The above questions were of a multiple choice nature.Q4. What is the college you currently attend?Here the user is enabled to enter a descriptive textual answer.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Q5. Do you love sea turtles as pets?

This question is not part of the standard question data base. The user,utilizing the question creator, is able to input questions of relevanceto the user.

Q6. What is the highest degree you have?

High School Bachelors Masters Answer: Masters

The user may create any number of questions in one or more categories.The Question Creator and the Answer Log are designed to accept differentformats of questions and answers, such as True/False, Multiple Choiceand Text and data based responses. The novel feature of creatingquestions or using standard questions; associating answers to thespecific questions, assigning weights to the question-answer pairs andgenerally self defining the user personality profiles is of greatutility.

FIG. 6: shows an embodiment of the Matching Network system of thepresent invention that enables the mutual and direct discovery of thepersonality profile of one user by another user. User A, 600, maintainsprivate personality profiles 601 and public personality profiles 602.User B, 610, maintains private personality profiles 611 and publicpersonality profiles 612. The Query Table 603 for user A contains thequestions posed by user A to user B and the corresponding answersprovided by user B to each of these questions with the weightingassigned by user A to each question and answer pair. The Query Table 603for user B contains the questions posed by user B to user A and thecorresponding answers provided by user A to each of these questions withthe weighting assigned by user B to each question and answer pair. UserA has a Scoring Processor 604, Database 605, Rules 606 and Behaviormodel 607. User B has a Scoring Processor 614, Database 615, Rules 616and Behavior Model 617. The enumerated elements are shown to exist atthe communication device level but may also exist at the server level. Acommon Match Engine 640 located at a Match Site is shown in theillustration to which user A and user B connect via wired or wirelesscommunication path 630. User A and User B use either standard questionsor custom questions that are created by the users to determine thepersonalities of each other. The questions may be dynamically selectedin real time for query. User A and User B having discovered thepersonality profiles of each other have the freedom to communicate ordecline to communicate.

The unique method for creating questions and keeping track of theweighted answers provides the basis for the dynamic determination of thepersonality profiles of the users. This feature forms the basis for thecreation of Personal Matching Networks and Group Matching Networksillustrated in detail elsewhere in FIGS. 8, 9 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 ofthe present invention.

Example 6.1

The Question Creator-Answer Table 603 and 613, Matching Engine 640 havethe potential to enable electronic learning and mobile learning. Thetest creator has the ability to facilitate real time assessments ofskills. The Query Table 603 for user A and 613 for User B, and theScoring processors 604 and 614 enable interactive or group mobilelearning.

The teachings described herein coupled with the features described inFIG. 9 are used in the Personal Matching Network and Group MatchingNetwork context to share information, dialogue, and provide utility inintra network and inter network applications.

This novel feature of the present invention provides the tools andestablishes the means for mutual discovery/authentication and approvalby mobile device and stationary device users and enables real timecommunication keeping the identity masked, partially revealed or fullyrevealed at the sole discretion of the users.

FIG. 7: shows an embodiment of the Matching Network system of thepresent invention illustrating the means for querying of one user byanother user utilizing one or more personality profiles. This figureillustrates the universal applicability of the Matching Network systemto Person to Person matching, Mobile Device to Mobile Device matching,Computer to Computer matching, User and Product/Service matching andBuyer and Vendor matching and combinations thereof.

A personal Match Engine is deployed by each user to determine thepotential feasibility of a relationship. The users are enabled todiscover each other, communicate with each other and negotiate with eachother with the ability to maintain total and complete anonymity and orreveal the desired personality details at different stages of thecommunication/negotiation process. This novel embodiment of the presentinvention is of great utility to research relationships, negotiaterelationships and establish relationships with one or more known/unknownindividuals, utilizing the Internet with universal applicability tosocial, professional and commercial relationships. The present inventionalso limits the potential for identity theft.

Referring now to FIG. 7 in detail the specific embodiments of thepresent invention are explained and illustrated. The User A denoted by700 maintains at the communication device level Private personalityprofiles 711, Public personality profiles 712, communication devicelevel Data Base 713, Lookup Tables 714, Rules Processor 715, QueryGenerator 716, Answer Table 717, Scoring Processor 718, Storage 719,Behavior Model 710 and Match Engine 701. The User A is also enabled tomaintain in tandem these entities and functions at the Local Server 742,the Network Server 743 and or the Escrow Server 746 level if desired.

In a similar manner User B denoted by 720 maintains at the communicationdevice level Private personality profiles 721, Public personalityprofiles 722, a device level Data Base 723, Lookup Tables 724, RulesProcessor 725, Query Generator 726, Answer Table 727, Scoring Processor728, Storage 729, Match Engine 730 and Behavior Model 731. The user B isalso enabled to maintain these functions at the Local Server, theNetwork Server and or the Escrow server level if desired. The wired orwireless communication path between User A and User B is indicated as760, the wired or wireless communication path between the User A and theServers is indicated by 761 and the wired or wireless communication pathbetween the User B and the Servers is indicated by 762. The Website,741, the Network Server 743, the Search Site 744, the Match Server 745and the Escrow Server 746 are shown on the Internet. The Local Server742 is in the inside line path on the Intranet. The Intranet/Internet isindicated by 740.

The system scheme is more readily apparent by the use of illustrativeexamples:

Example 7.1

The illustration refers to the means for wired or wireless communicationand interaction between multiple individual users and groups of users bythe use of the Communication Device, Escrow Server, Matching Server,Network Server and or a Local Server while maintaining personal controlover when, if and how the true identity is revealed after negotiation.In forming different types of groups it is desirable to qualify theindividuals for entrance into the specific group. As a specificillustrative example, college students who are currently enrolled or whoare alumni of the educational institution have e-mail addresses thathave a common post fix of “.edu”.

1. A Match Site with a dot corn web address and a Matching Server 745 isdesigned for fostering social interaction between college students asone of its many service offerings.

2. College students visit the Match Site on the Internet and registerwith their real e-mail address ending with a post fix of “.edu”. Anexample of the email address “johndoe@mit.edu”

3. The email address is very specific in that it defines the individualas a current registered student at a particular educational institutionand generally enables the user to be authenticated as belonging to thecollege group.

4. Multiple users from same or different educational institutionsregister with the Match Site answering basic registration questions. TheMatch Site assigns a user ID and a corresponding email address.“USERID@thematchsite.com”

5. The Matching Server 745 maintains a database and corresponding lookuptable for each registered user. The lookup table maps the real ID andthe real email address of the user into a table with the correspondinguser ID and the new masked email address that is assigned by the MatchServer. This process enables the masking of the real email ID of theuser for legitimate purposes. Example:

Real Table Entry 1:

John Doe, Cambridge, Mass.; Freshman, class of 2007; johndoe@mit.edu

Corresponding Table Entry:

UserID1@thematchsite.com, password: xxxxxx

Real Table Entry 2:

Jane Smith, Cambridge, Mass.; Freshman, class of 2007;janesmith@harvard.edu

Corresponding Table Entry:

UserID2@thematchsite.com, password: yyyyy

6. Each individual who registers may complete standard personalityquestionnaire that consists of suggested questions and additionalquestions that may be selected by the user from a Question Data Baseresident on the Match Server. The user is also enabled to use questionsgenerated independently by the user, which are input into the user'sdatabase. This enables the registrant to develop, customize andestablish one or more private and public personality profiles for theself using personally specific questions. Additionally the user isenabled to define the set of rules for defining a potential match, saidrules being maintained in a database on the Match Server.

7. Users are enabled to request a match from the Match Site for one ormore purposes, such as for dating, for homework collaboration, forsports, for travel and other purposes. The Matching Server consists of aMatch Engine. The Match Engine using the personality profiles of all theusers and or a subset and the rules defined by the user determines amatch after scanning the relevant databases and applying efficientmatching algorithms.

8. Users A, John Doe from MIT, having User ID1, desires to be matchedwith a Harvard freshman of the opposite gender for help with homework inthe freshman English class. User A submits a request by visiting theMatch Site or by other means such as e-mail.

9. The Match Engine determines that User B, Jane Smith from Harvardhaving user ID2 is the perfect match and has further indicated awillingness to tutor in her personality profile.

10. The Match Engine provides either one way notification by e-mail orother means such as visiting a private web page for notifying User B,Jane Smith, first wherein User B has the chance to review the maskedprofile of User A. User B then has the ability to communicate directlyusing the pseudo email address ID2@thematchsite.com by sending email toID1@the matchsite.com. At this point the direct interaction andnegotiation is enabled between the two parties A and B, who may chooseto reveal their identity at an appropriate stage of interaction.Alternately the Match Engine notifies both parties, without revealingthe true identity and either party is free to contact the other first orignore the requested match.

11. Additionally, the User A and User B are enabled to directly queryeach other by using the Query Generator 716 for A and 726 for B todetermine information of relevancy to each other in conjunction with theMatch Site and the Match Server and or the Escrow Server.

The foregoing example illustrates the novel feature of match drivenpeople to people interaction based on multiple private and publicpersonality profiles, having the ability to negotiate the terms of theinteraction and the freedom to reveal the identity at the desired time.The current search engine based processes lack in efficiency and privacybecause the user has to laboriously seek and sift through informationthat most often is not relevant. Additionally the user is forced toreveal the identity at a very early stage without having a chance todetermine the suitability of the other party and or having a chance tonegotiate a relationship.

Example 7.2

User A is a male college student maintaining a specific privatepersonality profile that is designed for dating purposes. This privatepersonality profile was generated by User A through the process ofanswering a series of questions and providing answers to the questions,said data being stored in the appropriate database and look up tables onthe communication device itself or on a local, network or escrow server.User A has in addition defined his rules for defining what elementsconstitute a match for social interaction in the dating scenario. In asimilar manner User B, who happens to be a female college student hasestablished a specific private personality profile and the specificrules that she wishes to apply to determine what constitutes a match.

User A using communication device 700 and User B using similar ordifferent type of communication device 720 communicate with the MatchSite server 745. User A and User B maintain their private personalityprofiles at the Match Site, 745 that facilitate matching of individualsbased on specific match based modeling and the user defined rules. TheMatch Site determines that based on the private personality profilesprovided by both parties there is a match between User A and User Bconforming to the rules defined by both parties such as dating. However,the identity of User A is not known to User B and vice versa. User A andUser B are notified of that a match is indicated based on the rulesdefined by both parties. The notification is done using the pseudonymemail ID of each user, without disclosing the identity of either partyto the other. At this point the user A and user B are free to contacteach other directly using the pseudonym ID and or fully reveal theirtrue identities. However, each party would like to know more about theother for safety, security and the need to avoid embarrassment andcontinue using the pseudonym ID.

The communication between the parties A and B is conducted through theMatch Site using web based methods, pseudonyms, or e-mail ID that isspecially created for this specific purpose. Each party selects specificquestions from the available Question data base and or generates theirown questions to better determine the personality of the other partyusing Query Generator 716 for A and 726 for B. The questions posed by Aare answered by B either directly and or through the use of the MatchSite and written into the Answer Table 717. And similarly the questionsposed by B are answered by A and written into Answer Table 727. Thequeries and the answers are stored in the appropriate data bases 713 and723 and Lookup Tables 714 and 724.

The User A and the User B may assign individual weights to the differentquestions and answers in addition to defining specific or general rulesfor matching in the Rules Processor for A, 715 and Rules Processor forB, 725. The scoring of the questions and answers with the appropriateweighting is performed by the Scoring Processor for A 718 and ScoringProcessor for B 728. The Match Engine for A 701 determines if there is amatch acceptable to A and the Match Engine for B 730 determines if thereis a match acceptable to B. Alternately the determination of the matchis performed at the Match Site 745 and or an Escrow Server 746. At anystage the true identity of A or B is not revealed without both partiesconsenting.

Additionally, as the interaction continues between the parties A and B,there is a need to exchange critical and vital information. This isimportant even if the identity is known or is still not revealed. TheEscrow Server 746 notifies and enables both parties to determine thatthe other party has provided the information requested by the other in atimely manner before proceeding to the next level of interaction. Theinformation may be provided to the Escrow Server by both parties.

A specific illustration of this feature is that if A and B wish toexchange photos while not knowing the true identity and the real contactinformation of each other, then the Escrow server enables that andnotifies both parties of compliance or non compliance. The femalecollege student B has ascertained, without disclosing her true identity,that the personality of the male college student A is acceptable to herthrough this interactive query process. However, after seeing the photoof A she declines to proceed further. This is possible with the presentinvention that lets people discover each other in a less intrusive andprotected manner. While the example illustrated is for socialinteractions between two parties it is equally applicable for othersocial, commerce and professional interactions between multipleindividuals and groups; and is not to be construed as limited to theexample cited herein.

Example 7.3

In this example the Matching Network system location dependent anddynamic real time matching. Two college students, User A and User B, aretraveling alone in Europe for the summer with communication devices thathave GPS location determining features. It is late in the evening. Thestudents would like to find a room for that day and share the room. Eachuser maintains a personality profile for this type of purpose. A queryfor room sharing is generated by User A and sent to the Match Sitelocated on the Internet. The Match site determines that the User B is inthe vicinity and has a profile that is compatible and indicates apotential match. User B is queried by the Match Site and providedinformation about A and indicates an interest. User A and User B areenabled to directly communicate.

Example 7.4

The prior art does not enable the full range of instantaneous, dynamic,delayed or time frequency based matching or searching. The data on theInternet or the Intranet is dynamic and the databases are beingdynamically updated with new information. This static query at a givenpoint in time does not guarantee a match to the query or in the cases ofsearch present the results that are dynamically relevant. Additionally,the current search engines index web pages at some point in time and donot dynamically and instantaneously update the indexed web pages.Consequently the information provided by the search engines is nottimely and time correct.

The present invention enables the request for a match or a search to beexecuted automatically in the manner and with the frequency desired bythe user using the same or different personality profiles of the user.College student A is looking for a room mate at the beginning of themonth and the Match site indicates no match at that time. However thecollege student has requested that the database of the site or othersites be automatically polled every day for this match. The presentinvention enables that polling and notification feature. Similarly, thesearch for information is not static. The polling and notificationfeature is equally applicable to search based techniques as disclosed inthe present invention.

Example 7.5

In the prior art there are significant limitations with the e-mailservices which are plagued by significant and growing Spam problems. Thee-mail is generally received by the E-mail Server located at the serviceprovider where the User maintains personal email accounts. The filtersprovided by the service provider are generally driven at the highestblock level by the designated contact list of the User, with otherlevels being less filter proof. The filter programs also block valide-mails with delayed notification or no notification of importantemails. There is a legitimate need for organizations to send bulk email.However, in the prior art the filters classify these bulk emails asspam. Another limitation is that once an email address is given to aVendor or others, it quickly becomes a publicly traded commodityspawning more spam. The embodiments of the present invention overcomethese limitations and problems.

The present invention enables the utilization of the Escrow Server foremail filtering wherein the user's apply their own filtering algorithms,using one or more personality profiles, to all incoming email ratherthan being limited to the generic filtering algorithms that the serviceprovider enables. The email is received first by the Escrow Server andor may be forwarded to the Escrow Server from the current provider,wherein the Escrow Server applies various user defined personalityprofiles to authenticate and match the email sender/content with theuser, thus eliminating significant spam. The user is additionallyenabled to compare a user personality profile with the contents andimages of the email, filtering content or the entire email based on textscan/word/phrase relevancy and objectionable image types.

The present invention enables the User A as an example, to establish oneor more pseudonym email addresses at the Escrow Server for each of theuser's personality profiles, thus ensuring that the true or real emailaddress is not revealed to the public for elimination of spam. Thepseudonym email addresses are mapped to the real email address of theUser and the email notification to the real email address of the User Ais performed after relevant personality based screening and sorting bythe Match Site using the Escrow Server as an email server.

Real email ID: UserA@serviceprovider.com

User A Personality profile 1 for business use:MaskUserAID1@Matchsite.com

Real email ID: UserA@serviceprovider.comUser A Personality profile 1 for business use:MaskUserAID1@Matchsite.comUser A personality Profile 2 for close family use:MaskUserAID2@Matchsite.comUser A personality Profile for online shopping use:UserAID3@Matchsite.com

The filtering programs and algorithms applied to each personalityprofile are determined by the User A. The User A is also enabled to sendand receive text email, said text/words being scanned forappropriateness to a personality profile using the appropriatepersonality profile for the User A and the corresponding masked emailaddress.

The present invention enables the embodiment of the invention to beapplied to Voice and Audio Mail screening. The voice patterns of knownindividuals are characterized using voice recognition patterns, havingthese voice patterns maintained in a database on a local or networkserver, associating said voice/audio patterns by Users ID andpersonality profiles and causing the voice/audio mails to becharacterized and segregated into one or more categories for relevancy.As an example the voice mails are enabled to be screened forobjectionable language and sales calls.

The present invention enables the embodiment of the invention to beapplied to Image Mail screening. The Images, including still, video andgraphics are characterized using image recognition patterns, havingthese image patterns maintained in a database on a local or networkserver, associating said image patterns by Users ID and personalityprofiles and causing the image mails to be characterized and segregatedinto one or more categories for relevancy. The present invention enablesthe screening of the combination of text, data, voice/audio and imagemails in the email format or other communication formats using thecommunication itself and or in conjunction with the local server or thenetwork servers.

FIG. 8: shows an embodiment of a Matching Network system of the presentinvention showing the applicability of the system to one or more Groups.In the prior art groups may be formed for the narrow purpose of emailcommunication. However, in the prior art groups are not defined withspecific personalities nor characterized and behaviorally modeled withone or more personalities. Additionally, the prior art allowed certaingroups to be created for the very narrow purpose of enabling easy e-mailcommunication within the group. The ability to create Personal Networksand or Group Networks and manage the relationships within the networkand between networks is not available to the individual user.

The prior art does not enable matching of individuals, intra groupmatching and inter group matching of individuals and matching betweengroups. The prior art does not index groups or the individuals thatbelong to a specific group. In an increasingly digitally connectedworld, the importance of personal networks and group networks isextremely critical for efficient communications and transactions. Thereis a need to find the public groups on the Internet and the moderator ofthe specific group if one exists. The present invention enables thespecific group to be indexed by type, category, by its personalityprofile and by the moderator for easy searching and matching, andtraversal by the individual user across the group and personal networks.

The present invention overcomes this limitation and defines acomprehensive system for forming a Group, developing and establishingone or more personalities for the Group, the means for admitting anindividual to the Group and or terminating the individual from the Groupbased on determining if a match exists between the personality profileof the individual seeking admission to the group and the personalityprofile of the Group. The present invention also defines the means forinteraction between one or more Groups based on the Group personalities.

Referring to FIG. 8, the Internet/Intranet 800 is the medium for wiredor wireless communication by one or more individuals or groups, usingenabling communication devices, CD. Individual A, 821, individual B 822,and individual C, 823 have no group affiliation but have one or moreprivate and public personalities. Private Group-1, 801, Private Group-2,802 and Private Group-3, 803 exist on the Internet or the Intranet saidgroups comprising of multiple individual members each member beingdefined by their own private and personality profiles. Additionally eachgroup is characterized by one or more Group Personality Profiles, GPP,said group personality profiles being member defined. The GroupPersonality Profile, GPP is maintained on a hosting Website Server, WS832, Local Server, LS 831, Network Server, NS 833 or a Match Site/MatchServer 836. Additionally, Search Site 835 and Escrow Server, ES, 834 areshown for interaction as needed. Similarly, one or more Public Groups,Public Group-4, 811, Public Group-5, 812 and Pubic Group-6, 813 areenabled with the individual members of said public group having one ormore public and private personalities.

Public and Private groups may have a moderator or no moderator. Theindividual and the members of the group are enabled to utilize theirpseudonym ID at the Match Site to communicate without revealing theirtrue identity and or may use their real identity to communicate withinthe group or with individuals external to the group. The Match Site andits associated Match Engine enable the matching process.

The embodiments and utility of the Matching Network system and itsapplicability for groups is illustrated with examples:

Example 8.1

In this instance Public Group-4 is a Church group in Palo Alto, Calif.the Public Group-4 actively seeks new members who are

1. Christians

2. Volunteers for weekend duties3. Believe in actively tithing and supporting the Church by giving atleast 10 percent of their income.

The above limited information is one part of the Public Group-4personality profile. Individual A, 821 is an upstanding citizen ofCambridge, Mass. who is planning on relocating to Palo Alto. TheIndividual is a

1. Christian

2. Likes to volunteer3. Does not believe in being required to tithe a specific percentage ofthe income and believes that the support should be voluntary.

The above limited information is one part of the Individual A's Publicpersonality profile. The individual using the current Search Enginetechnology searches for a Church groups in Palo Alto and is presentedwith a number of results that may have no results and or require furthersifting of the results presented.

However, the Church Group and the individual have registered with theMatch Site and or alternately indexed by the Match Site if registered onother sites. The query of Individual A to Match Site 836 enables thediscovery of Public Group-4. In this instance a conditional match isindicated based on the conflict on condition 3 of Group-4 that requirestithing. The Group Moderator is the focal point for communication andnegotiation with individual A for admission to the group. However,Individual A wishes to mask the identity at this point. In the event thegroup has no moderator then the Match Site facilitates the polling ofthe entire group. The groups in the present invention may be polled, ifthe polling option is selected. The Escrow Server 834 is utilized in theinstance critical personality profile information about the Individual Aneeds to be authenticated independently, without disclosure to the GroupModerator or some or all of the members of the group. Alternately theGroup Moderator is enabled to decline the admission of Individual A tothe group without disclosing the Group Moderator's identity as theIndividual A and the Group moderator are likely to interact in thefuture in the community on other matters.

Example 8.2

Individual B in this instance has one or more public and privatepersonalities and wishes to create one or more private and publicgroups, with some groups having a moderator and other groups having nomoderator. In the present invention, multiple individuals, including Bare enabled to create one or more private and public groups using theMatch Site, the Match Engine and the Matching Network system of thispresent invention.

Individual B creates a private group for playing the game of tennis withthe condition that only individuals who have played at the varsity levelwill be admitted. Individual B is a varsity level champion and hasfriends who are novices but wish to play tennis with individual B. Thisis not satisfying to B but B needs to be discreet about turning downtheir offers to play.

1. Using the Match Site, the Match Engine and the pseudonym ID of B atthe Match Site, individual B creates a Private Group labeled VarsityTennis Group. Individual B selects a personality profile for B. Since Bis the creator of the group, the group personality profile for theVarsity Tennis Group is defined by individual B. The group is registeredon the Match Site. The group is formed with a moderator. In this case Bis the group moderator.

2. Individual B now is enabled to directly or anonymously invite knownvarsity level tennis players to join this group with the option ofrevealing the identity of B or alternately keeping the identity masked.

3. Individual C is a great tennis player and is invited and accepts theinvitation not knowing the identity of B. Individual B is the Moderatorall invitations must go through B. If there is no moderator, individualC is now enabled to invite other varsity level players using the maskedidentity. The new invitees must meet the group personality criteria andmust be approved by some or all members of the group. Individual Cinvites individual D who is accepted if there is a match. Individual Cinvites individual F who is known to B, but is not compatible with Beven though F is a great tennis player. In this instance B declines toadmit F. However B invites E, but E is not preferred by C. Then B and Cnegotiate to 1175 accept E and F or decline both E and F.

4. The individual personality profiles and the group personalityprofiles are matched by the Match Engine to ensure that the grouppersonality profile is not compromised.

The present invention enables the following unique processes utilizingthe communication device and or the appropriate servers located on theIntranet or the Internet.

1. Creation of Private Groups and Public Groups with one or moreindividuals as members.

2. Enables members to maintain a plurality of private and publicpersonality profiles.

3. Enables the group creator to establish the Group personality profileor a plurality of Group personality profiles.

4. Enables the members to iteratively develop a series of questions andanswers to democratically or by other rules establish the grouppersonality profile.

5. Enables the polling of the groups by electronic means on issuesrelevant to the group by the Match Site 836 or the Escrow Server, 834.

6. Enables the matching of new members for admission to the group bydefined rules without disclosing the votes of individual members byusing the Escrow Server, 834.

7. Enables the member's profiles to be matched with the grouppersonality profile.

8. Enables the termination of members from the group by defined ruleswithout disclosing the votes of individual members by using the EscrowServer, 834.

9. Enables wired or wireless communication by members with each otherand or the servers using various types of mobile and stationary devices.

10. Enables the Group to be moderated by the moderator and or operateswith no moderator.

11. Enables the groups to be indexed on the Match Site or other searchsites for discovery by the users and for matching the group with vendorsand other sites. Alternately enables the groups to remain anonymous.

12. Enables the individual to belong to one or more groups based on thedifferent personality profiles of the individual.

Example 8.3

The present invention enables User A, a small business owner, to createa purchasing group for office supplies that will benefit from largevolume purchase by the members. The group is created by User A and UserA is also the moderator. User A, posts the existence and mission of thepurchasing group on the Match site without disclosing the identity,using the pseudonym ID provided by the Match Site. Alternately the UserA is enabled to disclose the identity. The group profile is establishedby User A. The personality profiles of the applicants that wish to jointhe group are processed by the Match Site for compatibility keeping theapplicant's identity masked from User A. The group as an entity seeksinformation and services from potential office supply vendors with itsown group personality profile. Similarly, creation of various groups forother purposes such as bartering, political campaigns and other purposesis enabled with the ability to mask or reveal the identity of themembers in a manner that is consistent with the law.

FIG. 9: illustrates other novel embodiments of the present MatchingNetwork system which includes the Personal Matching Network, GroupMatching Network features and Super Group Matching Networks. ThePersonal Matching Network is abbreviated herein as PMN, the GroupMatching Network is abbreviated as GMN and the Super Group MatchingNetwork is abbreviated as SGMN. The Matching Network system enablescreation of public and private groups with the group having one or morepersonalities. The Matching Network system enables invitation ofindividuals with specific public or private personalities to join agroup, for denying admission to the groups, for terminating themembership of individuals from the group, for terminating the groupitself, and for moderating or not moderating the group. These novelembodiments are explained with reference to personal matching networksand group matching networks and their inter relationships.

1. Structure of Personal Matching Networks

The Matching Network system of the present invention enables the novelmethod for the creation of the PMN by the individual user, comprising ofmultiple individuals with who the user interacts socially,professionally and or in other ways. In essence the user is enabled tocreate a personal network consisting of many individuals and groups. Theindividual user has a plurality of private and public personalities andfor each personality the user is enabled to create a sub networkcomprising of other individuals/groups that fit and match the particularpersonality profile of the user. The PMN for the individual is comprisedof one or more individuals; and one or more of these sub networks. Theconcept of a match includes the no match instance, since the no match iseasily denoted, represented and grouped and has special utility for theuser in certain applications.

The Personal Relationship Management, PRM, software utility enables theuser to readily establish, review, evaluate and manage relationshipswith one or more users in a bilateral manner, in sub-sets, in sets, andas groups. The user is additionally enabled to establish the PersonalRouting Protocols, PRP to ensure that the user receives the quality ofservice for the personal network desired. The full PRM and PRP utilityor a subset thereof is enabled to exist on the Communication Device, CD,the Local Server LS, the Network Servers NS, the Matching Server andother Servers located on the Intranet or the Internet.

Referring now to the FIG. 9, Individual User A forms a Personal MatchingNetwork, 900 comprising of individuals I-1, I-2 and I-3 who areorganized by the User A into subnet A1, 901, said subnet conforming to aspecific private or public personality profile. As an example subnet A1,901 could be the golfing buddy group. The other individuals, I-7, I-8and I-9 are the family members represented by family subnet A2, 902. TheIndividuals I-4, I-5, and I6 are not part of any subnet for A but arepart of A's Personal matching network. User A is a member of the group,G-1 which is shown as part of User A's personal matching network. TheUser A is part of the Group-1 as a result of the Individual to GroupMatching protocol process, 926 which enables the invitation, mutualquery/answer processes, the interaction and negotiation for admission tothe group using the appropriate Local Server LS 930 and or the NetworkServer 931, the Matching Server 932 and or the Escrow Server, 937. UserA is enabled to belong to multiple groups.

Referring once again to the FIG. 9, Individual User B has similarlyformed a separate Personal Matching Network, 910 comprising of a subnetB1, 911, that in turn consists of individuals I-10, I-11 and I-12; andanother subnet B2, 912, consisting of individuals I-16, I-17 and I-18.The individuals in each subnet are matched to User B based on one ormore of the User B personality profiles. Consequently each subnet ischaracterized by a specific personality profile of the User B. Theindividual I-13, I-14 and I-15 are members but are not part of a subnet.

Additionally User B belongs to the groups, G-2 which consequently ispart of User B's Personal Matching Network, as a result of theIndividual to Group Matching protocol process and negotiation which arebased on the personality profiles of the User and the Group. User B isenabled to belong to multiple groups.

User A and User B may not be directly part of each others personalmatching networks even though they share the commonality with one ormore groups. To establish a mutual relationship User A and User B areenabled to initiate the Individual to Individual Matching protocolprocess, 905 and negotiate a mutual relationship based on the specific,personality profiles selected by User A and User B. User A and User Bare enabled to directly communicate with each other using the wired orwireless communication path 914 and communication device 903 and 913respectively. User A is enabled to communicate via wired or wirelesspath 906 and similarly User B is enabled to communicate with path 915,with the Local Server 930, the Network Server 931, the Matching server932 and the Escrow Server 937 to execute various functions and utilizethe software and computing power resident on these servers. The User Aand User B are enabled to utilize the Personal Relationship Management,PRM software and the Personal Routing Protocol PRP, resident on thecommunication device itself and or the servers to manage the full rangeof personal and group relations comprising their individual PersonalMatching Networks.

2. The Structure of the Group Matching Network.

Referring once again to the FIG. 9, another novel embodiment of thepresent invention is illustrated that relates to the unique methodwherein the Group Matching Network, GMN, is formed comprising of one ormore individuals. Group-1 forms a GMN 920, having members M1, M2, M3,M4, M5, M6, M7, M8 and User A. The GMN 920 is structured with amoderator M1. Another Group-2 forms a GMN 922, having members M2, M8,M9, M10, M11, M12, M13, M14 and User B. The GMN 922 is structured withmember M2 as the moderator. The GMN 920 may further be composed of subgroups where certain individuals are organized by the moderator to formthe Group Sub Net 927. The illustration shown is with the moderatoroption but the application is equally applicable to groups that have nomoderator. The groups may be private or public groups with a specificgroup personality profile or alternatively multiple personalityprofiles. The GMN 920 and GMN 922 are enabled to have one or moreprivate and public personality profiles with the ability toinvite/negotiate and admit/terminate members to each group based on thepersonality profiles.

The interaction between the groups G-1 and G-2 that is GMN 920 and GMN922 is implemented in association with the communication devices used bythe moderator M1 and the moderator M2, the local servers 930 and or oneor more of the network servers, 930, 931, 932, and 937 using thecommunication path 924, 906 and 915. The Group-1 to Group-2 relationsare managed by the moderators M1 and M2 utilizing the Group RelationsManagement, GRM, 933, software resident on servers located on theIntranet and or the Internet, 950.

The Group Relationship Management, GRM, software utility and the GroupRouting Protocols, GRP, 933 enable the Moderator to readily establish,review, evaluate and manage relationships with one more members in abilateral manner, in sub-sets, in sets, and as groups. The full GRM andGRP utility or subset thereof is enabled to exist on the CommunicationDevice, CD, the Local Server LS, the Network Servers NS, the MatchingServer and other Servers located on the Intranet or the Internet.

3. Structure of the Super Group Matching Network:

Referring now to the FIG. 9, the Super Group Matching Network, SGMN 923,comprises of the Group Administrator GA and the groups G-1, G-2, G-3,G-4, G-5, G-6, G-7 and G-8. These groups may be similar or disparate incharacter but may be organized as a network for one or more specificpurposes and administered by the GA. The group administrator, GA isenabled to establish one or more personality profiles for the supergroup network and invite and admit the separate groups to join the supergroup network, SGMN 923. The GA enables one or more groups to form aSuper Group Subnet, 928 comprising of G-1, G-2 and G-3. The GA isenabled to communicate with the group moderators such as M1 and M2 bycommunication path 925 and with the local and network servers by thecommunication path 924. The Group Administrator, GA, is enabled tomanage the Group Network and or the sub nets by utilizing the wired orwireless communication device itself and or utilizing the software,databases and processing power resident on one or more servers locatedon the Intranet or the Internet.

The Group Relationship Management; GRM, software utility and the GroupRouting Protocol software enables the administrator to readilyestablish, review, evaluate and manage the relationships with one ormore groups in a bilateral manner, in sub-sets, in sets, and as groups.The full GRM utility or a subset thereof is enabled to exist on theCommunication Device, CD, the Local Server LS 930, the Network ServersNS 931, the Matching Server MS 932 and the Escrow server ES 937 locatedon the Intranet or the Internet. Examples of the super group networksare professional networks, medical networks and others comprising of oneor more groups.

4. Relationship Mining:

The GRM and GRP software, 933, provide a routing map for the members ofthe group to reach a target individual or target group in a mannersimilar to the one described for the PRM and PRP software, 934. The GRMand PRM software enable relationship mining and or exclude members fromrelationship mining efforts by the other members and the groupadministrators, based on the personality profiles and permissions set byvarious members. In the highly digitally connected and networked worldof the future, there is a need to dynamically patch in new members intothe personal and group networks and or dynamically exclude members andstitch a new network topology. In addition the ability to determine therelationships and also the ability to shield the relationships is ofgreat importance.

5. Subnets in Personal, Group Matching Networks and Super Group MatchingNetworks

The present invention enables users to define PMN, GMN and SGMN networkscomprising of multiple subnets for each of the personality profiles ofthe user/members/groups respectively. Each subnet is enabled to have apersonality profile associated with the subnet. The Matched subnets ineach case comprise of individuals/members/groups having the particularpersonality profile desired by the configuration selected. The Unmatchedsubnet is by default or by selection comprises of unmatchedindividuals/members/groups. An example of a matched subnet is that ofdrinking buddies for a male user A. An example of an unmatched subnet,in the event User A wishes to designate it as such, is the friends ofthe user A's wife. By analogy the subnets for the Group Matching Networkare enabled. The subnets are useful in forming a social network, aprofessional network and various other special purpose networks, thesesubnets being part of the PMN, GMN and SGMN. Referring to FIG. 9, theillustration comprises of the following subnets; the subnet 901 in thePMN 900 of User A, the subnet 911 and subnet 912 for the User B, thegroup subnet 927 for the group G-1 and the super group subnet SGMN 928in the super group 923.

6. Invitation and Admission to Personal Matching Networks and GroupMatching Networks

Admission to the personal matching network of A requires at least thefollowing conforming to the various enabling methods described in thepresent invention.

a) Invitation by the User A (and or by invitation by other individualsthat are part of the User A's personal network.) b) Matching (by defaultincludes no match instance) c) Negotiationd) Approval by the User Ae)Admission to the PMN of A

Similarly, the personal matching networks for User B and others areformed consisting of a plurality of members. Similar procedures arefollowed for the group networks and super group networks. The InvitationList of each user is of relevance in determining the levels ofconnectivity across personal and group networks. The invitee list iscomposed of those that have been invited and admitted and also thosethat have been invited and not admitted or declined. The ability tonotify the full set of the Invitee List or only the admitted set of theinvitee list is up to the discretion of the User. As an example dynamicchanges in the personal and group network topology may cause others thatwere invited but did not join to change their mind

7. Connectivity Rules

The network of interconnections between the individuals in the personalmatching network of A defines the Network for A. The network ofinterconnections between the individuals in the personal matchingnetwork of B defines the Network for B. Individuals are related to userA at a certain degree of connectivity depending on how many hops arerequired to traverse from one user to another user through each user'sinvitee list of connections, in this simple case the invitee list ofUser A and User B. As defined herein, the Invitee List is by default themembership list of each network. The individuals that declined theinvitation to join or the individuals that were rejected by the User aremaintained in a separate database for future utility. The connectionsdramatically increase based on the membership in each personal networkand the degree of connectivity desired across these personal networks.As an example User A is enabled to traverse through many PMN networksand GMN networks to discover another individual and or group which matchthe user's specific personality profile or goals. The illustrations forthe PMN are by analogy applicable to GMN and SGMN networks.

7.1 Permissions.

User A is empowered to discover the profiles of other users such asmembers in the network of B only if B or the specific members in thenetwork of B have enabled the discovery provision. Thus the ability toview the personality profiles of other members is enabled to a specificdegree of connectivity and even that only with permissions and by theuse of the Access Control List. Thus each hop has an access control listassociated with it.

7.2 Access Control Lists.

Alternatively, User B has the option to define an, Access Control Listthat permits or denies certain specific users or certain types of usersthe access based upon their personality profile. Thus B has the optionto permit access to A for all of user B's network of invitees or part ofuser B's network. Thus user B has the ability to define in this accesscontrol list the rules and permissions for viewing user B's list ofinvitees and members. The users in the personal matching network havethe ability to choose an anonymous profile and remain masked. Byanalogy, the foregoing is equally applicable for the Super Group whichis the group of groups. The Group Matching Network consists of a numberof personal matching networks. Groups are also connected at a number ofdegrees of connectivity. The Group moderator is enabled to define accesscontrol lists that permit or deny traversal from one group to another.The foregoing and following methods of implementation and management ofthe networks is enabled by the PRM, PRP, GRM and GRP software, the milesprocessor for each user and the match engine.

8. Personal and Group Matching Network Implementation

A central challenge in a Personal Matching Network or Group MatchingNetwork is determining the connections between individuals or inanimateentities that may be a part of the Personal Matching Network or GroupMatching Network. There may be millions of connections between people atonly five or six degrees of connectivity.

In one embodiment of the present invention the ability to build anentire network per node, where in a node could be an individual or agroup is enabled. As an example, an exhaustive discovery is performedfor a specific node by device discovery or methods using the Matchbot.The connectivity database is maintained and presented to the users basedon permissions indicating permitted nodes and blocked nodes. Thisnetwork determines the nodes that are enabled to be viewed at a certaindegree of connectivity. The connectivity map is constructed with depthfirst or breadth first methodology. Either method requires largedatabase transactions, lookup table operations, storage processing andother processing which are enabled by the web server/network server.However, since a large number of users desire this informationcontemporaneously the present invention teaches methods for efficientexecution.

One example of the implementation is to limit the database transactionsto just the invitee list of users that are proximately connected by adefined degree of connectivity in the network. In this implementation,each user informs just those individuals in the User's invitee list ofchanges to the User's personal network. The User may do this update onsome periodic or instantaneous interval. Other connected individualssend the same update message to their invitee list. Only upon a changeoccurring to the network, does the chain reaction of message traverseand update the entire network. In this manner, each node maintains anaccurate snapshot of the network by listening to messages that aredirectly connected to it. The update messages in one scenario can bepropagated only due to a log in or log out of a particular user at awebsite such at the Matchsite that facilitates management of personaland group matching networks. Thus a user in this type of implementationonly sends a propagation update message to the Users invitees uponlogging in to the system or logging out of the system. Alternatepropagation criteria may be enabled to modulate the chain reaction ofmessage updates.

In another example of the implementation, is to cache the connectivityresults into a Connectivity Database. This connectivity database speedsup access to the connections between nodes in a Personal MatchingNetwork or Group Matching Network. A cache of recently accessed nodes orthe individual's profiles allows for a more efficient system.Alternatively, heuristics are used to prioritize certain profiles in theconnectivity database which describes the connections between the nodesor individuals. These heuristics enable the user to see the profiles ofothers located on the network, at pre-determined degree of connectivityfrom the User, based upon the User's personality profile criteria. TheUser is enabled to be matched with those individuals that are within thesame degree of connectivity from the User and are therefore part of theconnectivity database.

The Personal Matching Network or Group Matching network nodes arecomposed of individuals, web sites, or products and services. Thesenodes each have personality profiles. A hierarchy of connectionsdetermines their relationships. Properties such as rules or accesscontrol lists that permit or deny traversal are associated with theedges that connect these nodes. In the case of a Personal MatchingNetwork, that consists of people the edges are listed in the inviteelist of each individual. Certain properties and attributes may beassociated with each invitee list.

In Personal Matching Networks and Group Matching Networks, entireconnections between users have the ability to be grafted or pruned. Itis possible for a user to be a member of multiple groups and havemultiple identities. When a user joins a Group, all of hisinterconnections to the group are grafted on to his invitee list if theuser has permitted such grafting. The user has the ability to decidewhether to expose the user's connections to this group and the othermembers of the User's invitee list. The ability of the user to preservethe integrity of the user's personal network is another crucial,important and unique feature of the present invention.

The Personal Matching Network and or Group Matching Network code has theability to be deployed on the communication device and or in conjunctionwith the local server/network server or in a peer to peer manner. Thepeers may discover each other using Matchbots and establishconnectivity.

Example of the Degrees of Connectivity in the Personal Matching Network

The nodes are individuals in this case and the edges that connect thesenodes are all or a subset of the individuals on the invitee list. Todemonstrate the method, assuming there are three users Bob, Jane andJack each wishing to build their own personal matching network. Jane andJack each wishing to build their own personal matching network.

User: Invitee List: Bob Jane Jack

Jack invites Jane

User: Invitee List: Bob Jane Jack Jack Jane

At this point, Jack is related to Jane at one degree of connectivity.Next, Jane invites Bob.

User: Invitee List:

Bob Jane, Jack-2ndDegree

Jane Jack, Bob

Jack Jane, Bob-2ndDegree

Jack is related to Jane at one degree of connectivity. Jane is nowrelated to Jack and Bob at one degree of connectivity. Bob is related toJane at one degree of connectivity.

Jane then sends a propagation message update to Jack informing him ofher first degree connection to Bob. This translates to a second degreeconnection for Jack and he stores this connectivity information in hisinvitee list while denoting that the connection is a second degreeconnection. Bob performs a similar operation.

By increasing the frequency of propagation messages, the accuracy of thesystem increases. An alternative mechanism is to only keep track offirst degree connections and perform an exhaustive, recursive traversalthrough each individual to build a connectivity database. Thisconnectivity database can determine the connections between individualsor inanimate objects. The connectivity database can also determine thenumber of connections that exist at each degree of connectivity.

A mobile user uses the connectivity database in conjunction with aMobile Device to discover his connection if any to another user. Theuser determines the exact route or hops between the user and the otheruser. This mobile user performs the same route lookup to determinerelationships between any two entities that are in a Personal MatchingNetwork or Group Matching Network.

The Personal Matching Network and or Group Matching Networkimplementation and software functionality is capable of being deployedon a network server or deployed in a peer to peer manner between theusers. The peers are enabled to discover each other using Matchbots andestablish connectivity via communication devices.

9. Quality of Connectivity

The User is enabled to determine the first degree of connectivity, thesecond degree of connectivity, the third degree of connectivity and soon to the Nth degree of connectivity from the User to the intendedtarget individual that the user wishes to reach. In addition the User isenabled to look at the complete topology of the User's Personal MatchingNetwork and other Group Matching Networks to determine the nodes, theindividuals, intermediaries, the groups, the subnets and the super groupnetworks that the user must traverse through to efficiently contact andcommunicate with the intended target individual. The PRM softwareprovides a dynamic routing map for traversing from the User to thetarget individual or target group computing the least number of hops, ahop being another user or another group, and or the most efficientrouting path.

The least number of hops to the intended target is in some instances notthe most desirable routing since the personality profiles of each hop iscritical, since some individuals who may serve as a hop may have anundesirable personality profile that would result in the routing pathbeing terminated at this hop or the routing path loosing its fidelityand being compromised. Thus the routing map is also modeled using thepersonality profiles of the User and also that of the nodes of traversalto suggest the optimal routing using one or more of the user definedrouting protocols and the quality of connectivity desired by the user.The unique method wherein the personality profiles and the behaviormodels of the hops/nodes are determined enables the optimal routing pathto be selected by the user and modeled to provide the desired quality ofconnectivity. As an example, a particular node could easily sabotage therouting path selected either willfully or by simple delay in response.The most critical factors are not how many people you know and or howshort the routing path is. The routing path is therefore modeled by thePRM and GRM software to the user defined criteria that includes theanonymity features, the fidelity and quality level desired and the timedomain response desired.

Another unique and novel embodiment of the present invention enables thePersonal Matching Network and The Group Matching Network features to becoupled with the location determining capabilities of the globalpositioning system, maintained on the Network Server 931 or otherservers, to determine geographical and location specific proximity tothe intended target. Additionally, the mutual discovery of thecommunication devices used by the individual and the target is enabledto determine the most efficient means of communication across thesepersonal and group networks. The personal and group networks are modeledusing advanced networking technologies combined with human behaviormodels, individual personality profiles and group personality profiles.

10. Communication Mechanisms in Personal and Group Networks

Various communication mechanisms are enabled between individuals in aPersonal Matching Network, Group Matching Network or across differentnetworks. Individuals are enabled to communicate via message boards,exchange of images, exchange of audio, exchange of text, exchange ofemail, exchange of real time audio, exchange of real time video,exchange of personality profiles, exchange of money, exchange productsand or services, exchange of real time text including chat and instantmessaging among other communication schemes. Users have the ability tomulticast or broadcast polls and questions to the entire personal orgroup matching network. The Group moderator regulates thesecommunications to the groups by approving or disapproving of individualcommunications or defining access control lists and or rules maintainedin a rules processor to regulate these discussions. The individualsconnected in a Personal Matching Network or Group Matching network havethe ability to authenticate each other and thereby establish credibleinteraction. The matching software enables individual users in aPersonal Matching Network to serve as a reference in any communicationor electronic commerce transaction between members of a PersonalMatching Network or Group Matching Network.

11. Applications in Commerce and Barter:

Individuals in a Personal Matching Network or Group Matching Network usetheir credibility to barter and or sell products and services to oneanother. A match is enabled between the personality profiles of theindividuals and the personality profiles of the products and servicesthey desire to sell. If the seller with a known profile of a used carsalesman is attempting to sell diamonds, then this is a relevant factortowards determining credibility. The individuals in common to bothparties have the option of serving as a reference and establishing thecredibility of the buyer and seller. The individuals in common to bothparties have the ability to serve as the escrow agent. Alternatively,the escrow server provides escrow features in the exchange of products,services, and money.

Example 9.1 Health Care Applications

The Question-Answer creator and personality profile creator of FIG. 5,the mutual ability to query and track the answers described in FIG. 6,the Matching Engine and the Personal and Group Relations Managementsoftware are of utility for health care applications. Individuals usingthis infrastructure are able to obtain second opinions from doctorsusing mobile communication devices and the Internet. The presentinvention enables the user to interact with the doctors, dialogue withthese physicians, and exchange personality or medical profiles forgetting better care. The diagnosis by medical professionals is based onthe query process wherein a number of relevant questions are asked andanswers solicited.

Example 9.2 Career Matching Employer-Employee Interactions

The Question-Answer creator, Matching Engine, and Personal and GroupRelations Manager have the potential to provide career matching andcareer counseling services to individuals. Individuals using thisinfrastructure are able to determine career opportunities available tothem in their Personal Matching Network and Group Matching Network. Theyare able to complete an assessment of their skills and provide these toemployers with transparent or masked identity and negotiate arelationship. As an example the employer is enabled to provide a testthrough the employer's Website, the Match Server and or the EscrowServer. The user takes the test with the escrow server masking theidentity and when the user has met the full criteria of the employer andthe user are notified of the results. At this point the negotiationbetween the parties is enabled.

The foregoing embodiments are novel and unique and are of great utilityfor the new behavioral Web or the Internet since the present inventiondiscloses a means for characterizing each individual with a plurality ofprivate and public personalities and also characterizes Groups with aplurality of personality profiles, thus enabling the matching and theadministration. The PRM and GRM management software enables theindividual user, the Group Moderator, and the Group Administrator tofully analyze and manage different types of personal and group networks.Additionally, the PRM, PRP, GRM and GRP software is enabled to recognizethe specific communication device profiles and work in tandem with oneor more personalities of the users, communication devices, servers andIntelligent Appliances.

FIG. 10: illustrates other novel embodiments of the present invention,the Matching Network system, which includes the ability to establish aplurality of private and public Device Profiles implemented in hardwareand or software residing on the Communication Device itself and orresident on the Local Server/Network Servers. The Device Profiles areenabled to be associated with the communication device User'sPersonality Profiles delivering another enhanced level of personalizedand secure communication.

Referring now to the FIG. 10, User A utilizes a Communication Device A,1000 that comprises of Device ID 1002, Device Profiles 1003, DeviceProfile Selector 1009, means for transmitting and receiving on one ormore channels of communication, the MMTR or other means 1004; the MatchEngine 1005, User ID 1006, User Profiles 1007, User Profile Selector1010, Input Communication channels 1001 and Output Communicationchannels 1008. Similarly, User B utilizes a Communication Device B 1030,that comprises of Device ID 1032, Device Profiles 1033, Device ProfileSelector 1034, means for transmitting and receiving on one or morechannels of communication, the MMTR or other means 1039; the MatchEngine 1035, User ID 1036, User Profiles 1037, User Profile Selector1038, Input Communication channels 1031 and Output Communicationchannels 1038. The wired or wireless communication paths are indicatedby CP 1020. The Local Server, LS 1041, the Website WS 1042, the Networkserver NS 1043, the Escrow Server ES 1044, the Matching server 1045, theMatch Site 1046 and the Search Site are located on the Intranet or theInternet 1040. While multiple servers are shown for illustrativepurposes it is understood that the functionality and the scheme of thepresent invention may be executed by a single server. Such combinationis not to be construed as limiting the invention. It is also understoodthat the MMTR is one means for implementing and managing multiplechannels of inputs and outputs and other means such as implementing theTransmit and Receive functions by replication of multiple channels arenot to be construed as limiting the novel elements of the presentinvention.

The present invention enables the registration of a plurality of DeviceIDs with the communication service provider's network server 1043,enabling a single communication device to be utilized for multiplepersonalities with each personality having a specific Device ID for asingle user, or alternately enabling the same device to be used bymultiple users with each user being able to select a specific and uniqueDevice ID from a plurality of Device IDs using addressing schemes suchas IPv6. The present invention also enables the same communicationdevice to be used by one or more users with each user having a specificUser ID that is then associated with one or more Device IDs. Anothersignificantly unique embodiment of the present invention is the meansfor associating the Device ID and the User ID with one or more privateor public personality profiles of the user enabling the discovery of onecommunication device by another; and one user by another. The crosscorrelating table of Device IDs, User IDs and Personality profiles forthe User A are stored in a Database or a Lookup Table and compared withthe data for User B to determine a match and execute an action.

The present invention anticipates the need for the User to establish andselect a plurality of communication device profiles for efficient andsecure communication based on the requirements of the specific type ofcommunication. For example, the User A is enabled to select one or moreinput and output channels for private or public communication.Additionally the User A is enabled to select and associate differenttypes of communication protocols for each communication device and eachinput and output channel. The User A is enabled to select the wirelessfrequency band and the appropriate power level for each input and outputchannel. Alternately the device profile selections may be executedautomatically based on dynamic conditions. The device profiles areenabled to be programmed for geographic location that may requiredifferent communication protocols for the region. Similarly User B isenabled to establish and select same or different communication deviceprofiles. The device profiles and input/output channel selections arealso driven by technical considerations such as the need to switch thefrequency band due to a change in reception or change in serviceprovider. The signal to noise ratio is adjusted for achieving bettercommunication between devices by adjusting the power level on one ormore channels and channel hopping.

The Transmit/Receive and other radio frequency related functions of thecommunication device are implemented using hardware. However, thepresent invention in addition utilizes the software radio technology,with the APIs and the software radio functionality being resident on thecommunication device itself, such as in the Multi-channel MultiplexingTransmitter and Receiver, the MMTR or other means; and or on theIntranet or the Internet Servers. The present invention leverages thehigh speed connectivity, the processing power of the communicationdevice itself and or the local or network servers to enable the softwareradio implementation. This implementation enables User A and User B tobe discovered and dynamically matched for secure and efficientcommunication utilizing the Device Relations Manager, DRM. The DRM is asoftware management utility for managing interaction betweencommunication devices based on the Device Profiles. The DRM software isenabled to reside on the communication device and or the local/networkservers. The DRM enables the discovery of the communication device intotality that is all the I/O channels and personality profiles of User Aby User B; and or the discovery of only the designated channels andpersonality profiles of the User A by User B. The user is enabled todesignate certain I/O channels as public and others as private on amulti channel communication device; and or multiplex a single channelfor the designated plurality of uses. Communication between devices isenabled for specifically matched communication devices based on deviceprofiles and user profiles and the relevant personality profiles of theuser.

The present invention by the use of the MMTR or other hardware/softwareimplementation enables each communication device to send a periodicDevice and Service Discovery signal, DSD signal on one or moredesignated channels to discover other communication devices and ormatched Service providers. The DSD signal comprises of wired or wirelesscommunication means inclusive of RF, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Infrared,wireless USB, Session Initiated Protocol, SIP and other means. Withoutspecific dialing from one device to another device discovery is madeautomatically when the DSD signal of the device of User A is recognizedby the device of User B. The mobile device users, service providers andintelligent appliances are enabled to send the DSD signal periodically,enable or disable the signal and block the signal in the even they donot wish to be discovered. This enables the determination of whether theother communication devices/service providers are matched enablingsecure and efficient communication and or negotiation in the event thereis no match indicated. The DSD signal matching function is performed bythe Match Engine at the communication device level and or the MatchingServer or the Escrow Server level using the rules/algorithmsdefined/selected by the Users. These embodiments of the presentinvention enable the discovery of other Intelligent Appliances and thespeedy and automatic transition of the User from one environment toanother environment such as from a home to an automobile, from theautomobile to the office, from the office to the automobile and from theautomobile back to the home using a single communication device as aenabling tool. In this system configuration, the user is also enabled tocontact the other users or providers without necessarily going throughthe wireless service provider by utilizing direct software radiotechnology and using the direct Transmit/Receive capabilities of thedevice.

In another embodiment of the present invention the Match Engine locatedin the communication device enables the discovery and use of wired orwireless applications that are best suited and matched to the user onone or more communication channels of a multi channel communicationdevice. Alternately, the communication device may comprise of a MultiChannel Multiplexing Transmitter and Receiver, enabling the input andoutput channels to be multiplexed based on the best match at a giventime for a particular application. The Match Engine provisions differenttypes of user requested services on the appropriate communicationchannel.

FIG. 11: In another embodiment of the present invention the User, theWebsite, the Web pages, the Matchbot, Products and Services arecharacterized by one or more personality profiles. The personalityprofile is in turn tagged by means of the TAG for easy recognition onthe Intranet or the Internet. Additionally the figure shows the abilityto hold one or more personality states. Referring now to the FIG. 11,the Websites 1100 on the Internet such as the Website 1101 and 1102 arecharacterized by one or more personality profiles. The Website 1101 ischaracterized by the TAG 1106 and the Website 1102 is characterized bythe TAG 1103 for easy identification by the Matchbot 1150, 1151 and1154. The scheme is equally applicable to different web pages in aparticular website, wherein each web page is enabled to have apersonality profile and hold a state. The User 1120 is enabled to have aplurality of personality profiles, 1121 and 1122. The User forPersonality profile 1 has a TAG 1126 and personality states 1125. TheUser for Personality profile 2 has a TAG 1123 and personality states1124. The Matchbots 1150 comprises of two distinct Matchbots, Matchbot1151 and Matchbot 1154. Matchbot-1, 1151 has TAG 1158 and personalitystates 1157; and Matchbot-2 has TAG 1155 and personality states 1156.The products 1170 consisting of two distinct products, Product-1, 1171with TAG 1176 and personality states 1175; and Product-2, 1172 with TAG1173 and personality states 1174. Similarly Services, 1180 consisting ofServices-1 1181 with TAG 1186, personality states 1185; and Services-21182 with TAG 1183 and personality states 1184.

The following description and examples illustrate and teach theembodiments of the present invention:

1. Application for Users:

User is enabled to maintain a plurality of private and publicpersonalities. The User is enabled to select a particular personalityprofile and associate the TAG with the profile. The TAG is a shortdescription of the specific personality profile type and it is writtenin XML or other formats for easy recognition by the Websites, Matchbotsand other entities. In addition the many features of the personalityprofile may be held as one or more States, using finite state machinelogic techniques.

As an example the User is a surgeon, who selects and holds theprofessional personality profile 1121 of a surgeon, a TAG is associatedwith this personality 1126, which in essence is a short descriptor forrecognition by other users, websites, match sites and Matchbots. The TAGdoes not disclose the identity of the user. A large number of TAG typesare available for different personality profiles such as homemaker,teacher, plumber, gardener and others. In addition the user may selectand hold different personality states within this profile of a surgeon.An example of a state-1 is: enable recognition by other surgeons andexclude recognition by medical sales representatives. A state-2 may beheld as: enable recognition and communication with the chief surgicalresident at the hospital. A state-3 may be enable recognition by thehospital administrator. Similarly the User is enabled to select adifferent personality profile-2, and a different TAG 1123 whichdescribes him as individual user. In this example, the surgeon as anindividual holds a plurality of states for communication with others.The surgeon may hold state-1 for online shopping, a state-2 for aspecific website, a state-3 for drinking buddies and other states. Inaddition the state holding function is enabled to describe the useruniquely so that the specific personality profile is recognized by thewebsite for a personalized website experience that is distinctlydifferent from other users. The User has the option to have no TAGassociated with a profile and hold no state. The TAG types may bedefined by industry convention and common protocols such that a numberof different personality profile types have associated with each of thema specific TAG. Thus different users may be described by the same TAGtype for the same type personality profile. Alternately, the TAG isenabled to be uniquely described by the user, with the informationdesired by the user, using XML for easy reading and recognition by otherusers and websites.

2. Application for Websites/Web Pages:

The website and the individual web pages are enabled to have differentpersonality profiles, TAG and hold state. The prior art does not enablea user to experience a personalized experience when visiting aparticular website. The experience is same for all users. The websiterecognizes the personality profile TAG of the user, in this example asurgeon, who is visiting the site and automatically reconfigures theentire website or some set of the website to conform to the personalityprofile of the surgeon. In addition once the reconfiguration is executedthe individual web pages, links and functionality are structured to meetthe requirement of this user profile. In this case the website, the webpages, links and functionality can be held in one or more states. When adifferent user with a different personality profile, visits the website,the website now assumes a different website personality profile andresponds to the new user. The TAG of the website may be recognized bythe user as the user navigates the web and enables the user to skip thewebsite. As an example pornographic websites may be required to carry aunique TAG. The website TAG when recognized by the user TAG enables theuser to immediately skip the website. Alternately, the website isenabled to recognize the TAG associated with the personality profile ofa minor and block the contents from being accessed by the minor. Theoption of selecting and setting the TAG is at the user discretion andthe website discretion respectively.

3. Product and Service Applications:

The attributes of the Product and or the Service are characterized byone or more personality profiles. Thus a Product may be described by itstechnical specifications in addition to attributes such as color, shape,size, weight and others. Hence a product or service is enabled to haveone or more personality profiles. Each personality profile ischaracterized by the TAG and one or more states. An example of theproduct state is the color, normally available in red, white and bluebut currently the state held is blue which indicates that only the bluecolor is available. The user visits a website of a shirt maker utilizinga personality profile that includes the user's TAG and the state whichin this case is blue. The website recognizes the personality TAG of theuser and the website is automatically transformed to conform to theuser's personality profile. The user is matched with the product bymatching the user's personality profile with the product profile andstate.

4. Communication Applications:

The prior art communication methodology is to push the e-mails and otherelectronic communication to the user's communication device directly orby the intermediate step of a service provider and the associatedservers, such as an e-mail server. This methodology has a number ofinherent problems that require the user to take actions to screen and orblock undesirable communication. The limitations of the prior art,result in over fifty percent of the e-mail communications to be spam asof the time of the present disclosure. The novel embodiments of presentMatching Network system invention enable a new paradigm of electroniccommunication based on empowering the user for pulling the matchedcommunications rather than having all of the communications pushed on tothe user. The system of the present invention enables multiple users tomaintain their own websites reflecting the user's plurality of publicand private personalities. Said websites having the capability to berecognized or being able to recognize a Matchbot of the presentinvention and enabled to provide a stateful behavioral response specificto the Matchbot.

As an example, the user A is enabled to post various types of messagesintended for User B in one or more private and public directories onUser A's website. Similarly User B is enabled to post various types ofmessages intended for User A in one or more private and publicdirectories on User B's website. The types of messages that could beposted are e-mail, voice mail, audio mail, private and public bulletinboards, image mail, video mail, data mail and others and thecombinations thereof. User A and User B may each log onto the other'swebsite and peruse the permitted directories maintained by one another.The only communication which is sent out by A to B and by B to A, suchas by e-mail, is that there are a number of messages posted in adirectory intended for each other, defining the categories andpriorities of their postings. The Users A and B may visit the websitesof the other, read the messages and download and save the messages totheir own communication device or their own server if desired. TheMatching Network system of the present invention ensures that in theevent A and B are matched by one or more personality profiles; andmatched as either individuals or as part of one or more groups then themessage postings are deemed as a matched communication and classified assuch. If there is no match between User A and User B, then the option ofvisiting the sites of each other is a matter of curiosity and isentirely up to the user's discretion. Communications in the future arelikely to be highly bandwidth intensive comprising of image and videoand the users have a need to limit and utilize the bandwidth primarilyfor intended and matched communications.

The matched communication methodology of the present invention ensuresthat the spam is limited, the communication bandwidth is usedeffectively, and there is no loss in precious time which is a rarecommodity for the user. The foregoing significant improvements describethe method wherein the users still have to act on their own to pull thematched communications. However, in another embodiment of the presentinvention, the User A and User B may each deploy their own personalizedMatchbot at a desired frequency and for a desired purpose, said Matchbothaving the appropriate TAG and state, to traverse the Web and connectwith the intended target website of each other to intelligently pull themessages of relevance and or index the messages for matching by theMatch Engine using their own personal rules and algorithms at thecommunication device level, the Local Server level and or one or more ofthe Network Server level.

The processing power of the communication device and the servers and thewired or wireless connectivity is thus intelligently leveraged forintended and secure communication between matched entities and theunmatched entities are excluded or flagged. These novel embodiments ofthe Matching Network system of the present invention significantly alterthe communication methods of the prior art and enable a newcommunication paradigm that puts the user in full control to efficientlyand effectively communicate across the user's Personal Matching Networkand the Group Matching Networks.

Another novel method of the present invention, for ensuring desired andsecure communication is to enable matched communication from and betweenpeople in the User's personal matching network based on degrees ofconnectivity. The communications such as e-mail are sorted and enabledfor delivery or for pulling based on the degree of connectivity. ThePersonal Routing Protocol PRP enables the sorting and screening. As anexample the communications to the User from other users that areconnected at the first degree level is easily enabled and prioritized asLevel 1, the communications from the individuals that are at the seconddegree level of connectivity is Level 2 and so on to Level Ncommunications. The ability for the User to block communications fromindividuals within the level or from any level is enabled. The firewallsand filters for secure and desired communications are thus based on thelevel of connectivity across personal and group networks and implementedby means of the Personal Routing Protocols, PRP and Group RoutingProtocols, GRP.

The Personal Relations Management, PRM and the Group RelationsManagement, GRM software enable the management of the communicationsenabling the user to communicate efficiently with a large and growingnumber of matched contacts and potential matches. The Matching Networksystem of the present invention also enables a large number of levels ofcontact with users any where in the world, said users being separated byone degree or N degrees of connectivity, said users communicating insame or different languages, said users being matched by one or morepersonality profiles, by utilizing the processing power of thecommunication device by itself and or in conjunction with the local ornetwork servers to execute language translation to facilitate efficientcommunication and collaboration.

In the prior art the web pages, e-mail and other textual content is inHTML format which lends itself for deceptive communication. The presentinvention enables textual content in HTML format to be automaticallyconverted to XML format for screening purposes by the Matchbot and backto HTML. The Matchbot screens by using the rules and the definedsentence structure, word directory selected by the user. This enablestracking of content that is offensive or misleading and further enablesdelivery or viewing of content that meets the user's rules. Further theMatchbot is enabled to index web pages and the content of web pages thatmeet the match criteria.

FIG. 12: shows an embodiment of a Matching Network system of the presentinvention showing the Match Engine and the methods by which the MatchEngine recognizes and performs the matching. Referring now to the FIG.12, the Match Engine 1200 is shown comprising of Inputs 1201, Outputs1202 and I/O Manager 1203. The inputs to the communication device and orthe servers may be in one or more protocols which are formatted andpresented to the Match Engine by the I/O Manager. The Scheduler, 1210manages and schedules different requests for matching. The Notifier,1211 manages the communication with other functional blocks within theserver/communication device and or external to the communication device.The Rules Processor(s) 1220 is a special processor to enable the rulesdefined by the user to be utilized in the match process in conjunctionwith other databases and algorithms. The General Processor(s), 1221performs a multiplicity of processing tasks internal to the Match engineand or external to the Match Engine. The Lookup Processor(s) enable thefast lookup of information such as personality profiles and otherarchived information that needs to be used frequently in the matchprocess being executed at a given time. The Lookup Tables, 1231 containinformation that is needed frequently or for special purposes. TheAlgorithms, 1230 are designed to determine the best fit for variousmatch criteria and are designed to fit the personality needs of theuser. The Database(s) 1240 archive the information and enable efficientretrieval in conjunction with the Lookup Tables and the LookupProcessor. The databases are maintained locally at the communicationdevice level and or on a storage area network using the Storage Mediaand Storage Processor 1241. The Behavior Models 1250 comprises of PriorBehavior 1251 of the User and in addition the behavior of the User inrelation to other users and the behavior of other users in relation tothe User; and Projected Behavior of the user based on various Bayesianprior history models, game theory and other situational analyses basedon the personality profile of the user and the risk tolerance indicatedby the user for that particular profile. The user is enabled to deploy anumber of computer models to determine a perfect match and or determinevarying degrees of a match. The figure is for illustrative purposes andis not to be construed as limiting in scope.

The Matching Process utilizing the Match Engine is illustrated with thefollowing process. Other combination of matching process utilizing theembodiments of the present invention are possible and the followingprocess explained herein for illustrative purposes is not to beconstrued as limiting.

Configuration

1. The user is described by one or more private and public personalityprofiles; and an associated rules/instruction set.

2. The Personality Profile may exist as a fully compiled descriptive setand or consist of one or more personality profile components which whencompiled generate the personality profile. The full profile and or theindividual personality profile components are encrypted and stored in adesignated location, such as the communication device, CD and or mayreside on the network on one or more servers. The compilation may takeplace in the designated location specified by the user. The objective ofdeconstructing and dynamically reconstructing/compiling is to provide ahigh degree of security.

3. The personality profiles are stored in the Personality Profile DataBase.

4. The Personality Profile Data Base is resident on the CommunicationDevice, CD and or the appropriate Local Server, LS, the Network Server,NS, the Escrow Server ES or the Match Site. The user retains thediscretion on where to maintain the personality profile database and thepermissions.

5. The Match Engines of varying capabilities are resident on thecommunication device and or the network servers.

6. The Match Engine comprises of the Rules Processor but in certainconfigurations the Rules Processor is enabled to be external to theMatch Engine.

Enabling the Personality Profile and the Personality Profile TAG

7. The Personality Profile and its components are for example describedin XML, extensible markup language format. Other implementations usingother software languages are possible.

8. Additionally, the personality profile is characterized by the TAGthat allows classification by its type to allow easy and speedyrecognition by the Match Engines, the Match Sites, Websites, SearchSites and the Servers and other communication devices.

9. The personality profile is enabled with a plurality of States furtherdescribing one or more purposes with the ability to hold the State for adesignated period of time or purpose.

10. The TAG is described in XML or other software conforming to agenerally acceptable recognition protocol or is written such thatdifferent protocols are enabled to interpret independently.

Matchbot

11. The User generates a Query for information or transaction using aWeb Browser. The present invention anticipates non Browser applicationsthat include voice based uses.

12. The Query is associated with a user's private or public personalityprofile. A quick choice, for example from a pull down menu is enabled tochoose a personality profile or a default personality profile isenabled. Additionally, the appropriate personality profile isautomatically selected based on contextual awareness, recognition ofother communication devices/servers in the communication loop, location,language and other factors.

13. The Query is activated manually by the user who is communicating viathe Internet. Alternately the query is attached to a Matchbot. TheMatchbot is enabled additionally with the desired personality profile.The Matchbot implementation is enabled in software. The Matchbot seeksand delivers matched data or matched data sets from ordered and orrandom data.

14. The Matchbot is launched to seek specific targeted information thatmeets the personality profile and user defined rules to enable matchingby the Match Engine.

15. The Matchbot is enabled to be launched from a particularcommunication device and or a server. The origin and destination of theMatchbot need not be the same. The destination of the Matchbot dependson the node in the network where the matching process by the MatchEngine takes place.

16. The Matchbot is launched and targeted at one or more specificwebsites and or enabled to find target websites that are likely tocontain the desired information. Additionally the websites have theirown personality profiles and Tags for easy recognition by the Matchbot.

17. The Matchbot is configurable with one or more target URL or IPaddresses and one or more return addresses. The Matchbot is enabled tobe encrypted.

18. Matchbot is enabled for a specific purpose and mission. The Matchbotmay be launched at a desired time or may be launched periodically.Multiple Matchbots may be launched by the User or the Website.

19. The Matchbot itself is enabled to determine one or more levels ofrelevancy by comparing the target TAG, the coded personalityprofile/instructions before presenting the data to the Match Engine.

20. Users have the ability to modify and adjust their match criteria andpresent the results in a graphical user friendly format in conjunctionwith the communication device interface and the match engine.

21. The matching is enabled via the information acquired in digitalform, or alternately determined, intuitively by people themselves. Theuser is enabled to narrow or relax match criteria and iterate through anumber of potential matches.

22. The Matchbot navigates the web looking for matching websites,matching information, matching products and matching services anddelivers the matched data to the communication device or the server, oralternately delivers data that meets certain matching criteria whichthen is analyzed further and matched by the Match Engine located on thecommunication device and or the Intranet/Internet servers. In thespecial case where there is no match requested or no matching parameterdesignated, the Matchbot still is enabled with personality profiles, TAGand states and in this event the Matchbot is configured for intelligentsearching. The Matchbot is also enabled with additional coding in theTAG and the states to be action oriented and empowered by the user toexecute designated transactions upon determining that a desired matchexists.

23. The present invention enables matching of the user's request forinformation, products and services by the means of the Matchbot and theMatch Engine. The Matchbot is characterized by one or more personalityprofiles, said personality profiles matching the personality profile ofthe user. The Matchbot in addition is characterized by the TAG and iscapable of holding one or more states. An example of the state is thatthe Matchbot is enabled to exist for one or more time periods, or isenabled for a specific purpose or is launched at a desired frequencyfrom the communication device and or the server.

The Match Engine

24. The Match Engine processes the data for relevancy as defined by theuser. The user is enabled to select one or more matching algorithms. Orselect default algorithms resident on the Match Engine. The Match Engineenables transmission of meta-data and control data between two or moreentities that need to communicate or perform computations. The MatchEngine application programming interfaces specify the format of themeta-data. This syntax is made as an open specification such that avariety of systems may process the meta-data format. A language such asXML, extensible markup language is used to specify this meta-dataformat. The storage of the meta-data or control data is enabled in oneor more application specific data bases on a Storage Processor forefficient matching. The Storage Processor and storage media, 1241 isconfigured to be part of the Match Engine or external to the MatchEngine on a storage area network and or other local area or networkserver. The Match Engine meta-data is stored in a user specific database. The meta-data is grouped together such that it forms a key thatcan be provided to a content addressable memory. These keys are passedto a Rules Processor for rule based processing and matching

25. The Match Engine utilizes the user defined/selected personalityprofiles, behavior models, rules and algorithms to determine a match.The Rules Processor serves as a content addressable memory and allowsfor rules to be codified. A relationship between various parameters maybe programmed into the Rule Processor. The Rules Processor is intendedto be normally part of the Match Engine and in certain instances isconfigured to be on the communication device, the local area server orthe network servers. The Rule Processor may operate with rules that areordered from most specific to least specific. The intention is toefficiently facilitate the most specific match. A default entry isenabled in the Rule Processor. A set of parameters is input to the RuleProcessor causing the appropriate processing to be performed for thatspecific rule to derive the most specific output for a match. The ruleis expressed in binary form or in a string format.

26. The Match Engine enables the discovery and use of wired or wirelessapplications that are best suited and matched to the user. The MatchEngine is used in the adaptation of the wireless communicationprotocols. One or more users communicating by wireless means maintain abehavioral model and finite state machine. Since the wireless medium areconstantly changing in terms of noise parameters and channelcharacteristics, a behavioral model is employed to respond to a varietyof dynamic real-time stimuli. Each user that is communicating maintainsa profile that is determined by the type of mobile device, geographicallocation and the specific application at a given time. The applicationprofile describes the application's communication requirements. Theseparameters are expressed at a high level and translated at lower layersinto specific operations. The state of the wireless protocol is changed,based on the wireless application profile. Upon a change to the wirelesscommunication protocol, the Match Engine facilitates the negotiation ofnew communication parameters. As an example, these parameters mayindicate that the power level should be increased so as to overcome thehigher noise seen at the receiver. The negotiations between the twocommunication devices are facilitated by the Match Engine. The MatchEngine enables adaptable wireless networking applications for mobiledevices and intelligent appliances.

27. The Match Engine enables the discovery of wirelessdevices/Intelligent Appliances and the appropriate service offering bythe wireless service provider. The Match Engine enables serviceproviders to offer customized services to wireless users in a home oroffice environment through behavioral modeling and matching. As anexample, if a personality profile resident on a wireless enabled laptopidentifies a particular user as an executive, then requests to thewireless printer may be queued in such a way that the executive'sprofile places him into an expedite queue that will be processed at ahigher priority. Alternatively, the wireless enabled printer may use theMatch Engine Infrastructure to behave in manner such that it assigns nospecial weight or a higher weight to a user based on the personalityprofile. The modeling of the user and the behavior of both the clientdevice as well as the printer leverages the Match Engine to provide anenhanced wireless experience.

28. As an illustrative example the Match Engine is configurable to servethe needs of the healthcare industry by enabling the matching ofsymptoms and diseases. Users are enabled to match their particularsymptoms with symptoms aggregated among thousands of other users todetermine similar patterns. The Match Engine is used in the behavioralmodeling of the user and the disease to determine if a match exists. TheMatch Engine has utility for similar applications not specificallyenumerated herein.

29. The Match process and Match Engine of the present inventioncharacterize the User, the Matcher who is the requester and the targetwhich is the Matcher. Unlike the search. based and Search Engineprocesses of the prior art, the match based processes and the MatchEngine enable enhanced utility for the Internet user.

The novel embodiments of the present invention taken alone or incombination are applicable for match based processes, search basedprocesses, and the combination of search and match based processes.

FIG. 13: shows the novel method of the present invention for enablingpersonal transactions management by the consumer and consumersatisfaction management by the vendor. FIG. 9 and other figuresillustrated the process for building connectivity networks forindividuals and groups which are by analogy capable of being extended toproducts and services. The teachings of FIG. 13 when viewed in astandalone manner and or combined with other figures of the presentinvention enable the user and the provider to discover product servicerelationships by utilizing the personality profiles of the user inrelation to the user's purchasing patterns. As an example the user thatpurchases a tooth brush is likely to need tooth paste; and it is likelythat the user would also need the services of a dentist. If the userpurchases a particular brand of tooth brush then it is likely that theuser would prefer the same manufacturer for the tooth paste.

The Personality Transactions Management, PTM, software enables theconsumer to discover products and execute transactions based on the userpersonality profiles and the product personality profiles. The CustomerSatisfaction Management, CSM, software relates the products and servicesdesired by the user, said user being characterized by personalityprofiles and behavior models and said products and services beingsimilarly characterized; such that the user who is the consumer is ableto receive satisfactory service from the vendor by means of matching therequirements of the consumer and the ability of the vendor to provide.The PTM and CSM software is enabled to reside at the communicationdevice level and or on the local or network server. The Matchbot isconfigurable to perform matched discovery of the partial or full rangeof products and services which the vendor/website is able to deliver andautomatically either deliver the information or execute the matchedtransaction desired by the user.

Now referring in detail to FIG. 13 the consumer A, 1300 and consumer B,1310 are enabled to have one or more consumer profiles and utilizecommunication devices 1303 and 1313 respectively. The consumer A selectsa consumer personality profiles from a plurality of profiles to executea transaction. In this case the consumer is interested in buying theproduct P-4 which in the profile of A is not related to other productsor services. However, the products P-1, P-2 and the service S-1 arerelated and grouped and generally require a single execution. Vendor-Xprovides a product-service group, 1321 consisting of the specific groupCA-1, desired by the consumer A. As an example, the product/servicegroup 1321 provided by the vendor and the product/service group CA-1 inthis example may consist of toothpaste, P-1, toothbrush P-2 and dentalservice S-1. The matching between the consumer A and Vendor X isnegotiated by the means of 1326. Consumer A and Consumer B are enabledto collaborate for purchases by the matching process of 1305. Consumer Bdoes not match with Vendor-X as the vendor does not offer the groupingsCB-1 or CB-2 desired by consumer B. However they may share products byexecuting joint purchases.

Vendor-X is enabled to match with the supplier Y by means of the Vendorto Supplier matching, 1328, process to determine the reordering oravailability. In this scheme the vendor and the supplier have a realtime awareness of the consumer's personality behavior and purchasingpatterns. The Supplier Y is enabled to match with the manufacturer viathe matching process 1325, to alert the manufacturer to ship ormanufacture. The manufacturer, 1323, is enabled to deliver products asindividual items or in groups, such as 1327. The communication paths arewired or wireless. The Personal transactions Manager, PTM, 1334 residesat the communications level and or the server level. The CustomerSatisfaction Manager, 1333 resides at the vendor server level and or themanufacturer's server level.

The present novel invention enables the management of the entire supplychain based on consumer profiles and consumer behavior models enablingbetter real time management of inventory and customer responsiveness.The Supply Chain Management, SCM software resides on the vendors and themanufacturer's servers and is enabled to model the consumer demand indetail and or in the aggregate based on personality profiles of theconsumer, the personality profiles of the vendor and the personalityprofiles of the manufacturer. In addition each node of the supply chainis characterized by the personality profiles and behavior models.

FIG. 14: The novel embodiments of the present invention which enableelectronic commerce are described by referring to the FIG. 14. As anexample, the consumer A is evaluating two different products and wishesto configure the products by fully understanding the relationshipbetween the user's personality profile and the personality profile likedescription of the products. The user A has a personality profile, 1403for product P-1, 1400; and the personality profile 1413 for product P-2,1410. The user utilizes the communication device, CD. The products P-1and P-2 are compared by the user, via the product to product matchingprocess 1405. The communication between the user and the servers is bythe path 1406 and 1415. The Product Configuration Manager, PCM, 1434enables the user to match various components and sub components as theuser determines the best configuration that matches one or more of theuser's personality profiles and the inter relationships between one ormore products that the user wishes to purchase. The product P-1comprises of a number of components and sub components which may beselected to form a fully personalized product configuration that meetsthe user's personality profile. The Vendor-1 offers the product andenables the configuration. User A wishes to configure the product P-1with components CP-7, CP-10, CP-8 and the component grouping indicatedby P-1 component subnet-1. The Vendor-1 offers the desired componentsCP-7, CP-10, CP-8 and the grouped subnet 1421 which is identical to thegrouped subnet desired by the user. The user is now enabled to model thefull product P-1 since all the components are modeled. This ability isextended to the sub component level since the component is comprised ofone or more sub components SC-1, SC-2 and so on, said combination beingsimilar to the subnet such as 1422 which forms the component CP-1. Thesubcomponent SC-1, in turn comprises of sub-sub components, SSC-1 SSC-2and SSC-3 which form a sub net 1427 and other sub components. Thismethodology enables the ability to fully configure the product based onconsumer profiles, behavior models and the attributes of the productwhich are described down to the sub component level with personalityprofile like structure. The Component CP, as illustrated for CP-6 isenabled to have a RF-Tag. The Product, P-1, the components CP, the subcomponents SC and the sub-sub components SSC are enabled to beconfigured with a RF-Tag for recognition by the mobile communicationdevice. The RF-Tags are in turn enabled to contain the coded informationwhich describes the personality profile type attributes of the item. Thecommunication device is configured with the ability to send and receivesignals from the RF-Tag on one or more channels of communication, as anexample utilizing the MMTR, to enable personalized product configurationand transactions. The foregoing methods for configuring andpersonalizing the products/services are enabled by the ProductConfiguration Manager and the Component Selection Manager which resideat the communication device level and or the local/network server level.

The foregoing description of specific embodiments of the presentinvention have been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed, and it should be understoodthat many modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order tobest explain the principles of the present invention, and its practicalapplication, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilizethe present invention and various embodiments, with variousmodifications, as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It isintended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claimsappended hereto and their equivalents.

1. A matching network system comprising: communication devices, servers comprising an application structured as a probabilistic finite state machine for tailoring the functionality of the application to a specific user and for predicting behavioral models based on actions of the specific user on the application to establish one or more personality states on the application, wherein the servers selectively maintain on the communication devices the probabilistic finite state machine and the behavioral models, communication channels coupled to the communication devices and the servers, wherein the communication devices and the servers interact to allow an individual communication device user to maintain a plurality of personality profiles comprising public personality profiles and private personality profiles, states and the behavior models, wherein the communication devices and the servers interact to allow forming one or more groups comprising individuals, the groups based on individual personality profiles, wherein the communication devices and the servers interact to allow the group to maintain a plurality of personality profiles, states and the behavior models, wherein the communication devices and the servers interact to allow communication between individuals based on selected personality profiles, wherein the communication devices and the servers interact to allow communication between the individuals and groups based on personality profiles, wherein the communication devices and the servers interact to allow information acquirement based on personality profiles, wherein the communication devices and the servers interact to execute transactions based on at least one of individual and group personality profiles, wherein transactions comprise commerce transactions, wherein the probabilistic finite state machine demonstrates behavior and learning based on at least one of a current personality state, the personality profile, the group personality profile, a product profile, a service profile, and a communication device profile. 